Over 6,000kg of rubbish collected in July and more beach cleans planned

ABTA is celebrating a successful Make Holidays Greener month which saw almost 2,000 people collecting over 6,000kg of rubbish, double the amount collected in 2015. 125 beach cleans were organised in 23 countries and included 68 Travelife certified hotels. Further beach cleans have been planned for August and September, which will keep even more rubbish out of the marine ecosystem.   

Last year, 108 beach cleans were organised worldwide, involving 68 organisations and over 1,000 people. Beaches were cleaned in 20 countries and 3,000kg of rubbish was collected.

As well as beach cleans, Make Holidays Greener month also encouraged holidaymakers to make a greener holiday pledge. Over 700 greener holiday pledges were collected, recycling water bottles, reusing hotel towels and walk more were among the most popular pledges.  

Companies can still support the campaign by signing up for a beach clean and by sharing their stories and pictures on Facebook and Twitter using #MHG2016. For those companies not based near a beach, they can organise a different type of event such as a park or mountain clean-up. The campaign website, makeholidaysgreener.org.uk, features a range of free resources, including how to organise a beach clean and top tips for customers.

Nikki White, Director of Destinations & Sustainability at ABTA said: “We are delighted with the success of this year’s Make Holidays Greener month. It is fantastic to see so many people taking part in a beach clean and showing that they care about their environment. Cleaner, greener beaches are good for tourism, and our industry is uniquely placed to make a difference to coastal regions and beaches globally. Of course beach cleans can take place all year round and I would encourage anybody thinking of taking part to join in.”

Manos Loumpakis, Hotel Manager at the Family Life Creta Paradise, who organised two beach cleans this year said, “It is so important to not just claim that you ‘think green’ but also to act on it too. We are proud of our second successful effort which was achieved by staff and guests. We will continue contributing to environmental conservation in any way we can.”

Make Holidays Greener month was run with support from Travelife and The Travel Foundation. People can find out more about greener holidays and how to take part in a beach clean at makeholidaysgreener.org.uk and abta.com/traveltips.