This page is about Greener Orkney’s directly organised and delivered beach cleans. For information about how we support other community beach cleans in Orkney, click here. For information about our marine litter research programme, click here.
Jump to…
About Greener Orkney beach cleans
Why are beach cleans important?
Marine litter and particularly plastic waste like rope fragments can be very harmful to animal life and its removal from Orkney’s beaches will have a positive impact on this serious problem.
What’s more, many beaches are a valuable public recreation space. Residents’ and visitors’ enjoyment of our beaches will be enhanced by a clean environment.
What we do
Greener Orkney organises a programme of regular beach cleans at sites across Mainland. From May to August we only clean specific areas to avoid disturbing nesting birds.
We communicate details of our beach cleaning events through this website and Greener Orkney’s social media. Everyone is welcome to participate and we hope we will see you at one of our beach cleans soon.
When and where are Greener Orkney’s beach cleans?
Greener Orkney’s beach cleans happen approximately monthly. Details of future beach clean events can always be found on Greener Orkney’s Events page.
For the latest information about the beach clean programme, or last-minute changes due to weather conditions, we recommend you check our Facebook page close to each date and before setting out, just in case. Information on our Facebook page is regularly updated by our volunteers.
Greener Orkney beach cleans – impact
Headline figures for our beach clean activities:
2021-2026 Beach clean statistics (Mainland) | 4,615kg of litter removed from beaches | 623 volunteer opportunities fulfilled |
Detailed breakdown of beach clean activities, month by month:
| Date | Location | Total litter (kg) | Volunteers |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 2026 | Skaill | 42 | 10 |
| February 2026 | Scapa | 71 | 16 |
| January 2026 | Fourth Barrier | 69 | 9 |
| December 2025 | Scapa | 59 | 6 |
| November 2025 | Skaill | 38 | 3 |
| October 2025 | Fourth Barrier Warebeth | 62 15 | 2 4 |
| September 2025 | Scapa Beach | 59 | 22 |
| August 2025 | Warebeth | 8 | 4 |
| May 2025 | Warebeth | 6 | 3 |
| April 2025 | Birsay | 27 | 1 |
| March 2025 | Warebeth | 72 | 8 |
| February 2025 | Warebeth | 64 | 5 |
| January 2025 | Warebeth Skaill Bay | 59 65 | 7 1 |
| December 2024 | Scapa beach Warebeth | 35 41 | 3 4 |
| November 2024 | Fourth Barrier Warebeth | 132 17 | 8 6 |
| October 2024 | Warebeth Westray, Skaill Storehouse south | 14 20 | 4 1 |
| September 2024 | Warebeth Westray, Aikerness Fourth barrier Birsay Westray, Quoygrew Scapa beach Westray, Tafts Warebeth Stronsay (3) | 10 102 36 7 62 36 174 20 122 | 3 7 5 2 3 11 1 3 5 |
| August 2024 | Birsay Warebeth | 33 16 | 1 4 |
| July 2024 | Houton Scapa beach | 10 3 | 4 2 |
| June 2024 | Fourth barrier Warebeth Birsay | 60 17 21 | 4 5 1 |
| May 2024 | Scapa beach | 71 | 12 |
| April 2024 | Warebeth Scapa Beach Rack Wick / Breckness Scapa Beach Fourth Barrier Sands of Wright | 41 21 130 15 10 26 | 14 5 8 4 2 1 |
| March 2024 | Houton Scapa Beach | 28 89 | 4 14 |
| February 2024 | Warebeth Scapa Beach Warebeth Fourth barrier | 33 97 3 50 | 10 11 2 3 |
| January 2024 | Warebeth Bay of Skaill | 26 2 | 5 1 |
| December 2023 | Fourth barrier | 34 | 3 |
| November 2023 | Warebeth Bay of Skaill Scapa Beach Fourth Barrier Warebeth Birsay | 24 3 9 26 20 28 | 7 2 5 5 2 10 |
| October 2023 | Aikerness | 12 | 2 |
| September 2023 | Bay of Skaill Dingieshowe Fourth barrier | 21 13 28 | 4 6 4 |
| August 2023 | Birsay Scapa Beach Bay of Skaill | 11 16 2 | 5 2 3 |
| July 2023 | Scapa Beach | 16 | 2 |
| May 2023 | TBC | 22 | 5 |
| April 2023 | Evie Sandwick, South Rondaldsay Warebeth Scapa Beach | 4 35 163 39 | 3 6 40 6 |
| March 2023 | Fourth barrier Dingieshowe Bay of Skaill | 45 25 86 | 7 6 8 |
| February | Scapa Beach Netherton Road End Holm Scapa Beach | 40 12 18 198 | 10 2 3 40 |
| January 2023 | Birsay Bay of Skaill Warebeth | 39 20 13 | 20 4 3 |
| December 2022 | Fourth barrier | 58 | 5 |
| November 2022 | Warebeth | 35 | 3 |
| October 2022 | Scapa Beach | 49 | 10 |
| August 2022 | Fourth barrier | 240 | 11 |
| July 2022 | Stromness | 25 | 7 |
| April 2022 | Houton Head | 309 | 11 |
| March 2022 | Warebeth | 188 | 18 |
| February 2022 | Newark Bay (Deerness) | 125 | 22 |
| January 2022 | Houton Beach | 207 | 20 |
| December 2021 | Bay of Skaill | 11 | 7 |
| 1917 | 225 |
NB – weight totals include some large items such as tyres, large nets, feeding pipes etc. but only where it has been practical to weigh them on site.
From September 2024 to March 2025 we also undertook a programme of marine litter research (click here for our page about marine litter research) and beach cleaning in the North Isles. That project resulted in 1,591kg of litter being removed from beaches, with 176 volunteer opportunities fulfilled.
“Before” and “after” views – 42kg of mainly plastic waste removed.