Community-spirited volunteers carried out an ‘Operation Beach Clean’ event on the Isle of Sheppey, off the northeast coast of Kent, for 2.5 hours on Wednesday 30th November 2022.

Fifteen volunteers took to the beautiful beaches of Sheerness and Minster Leas armed with litter pickers to enhance the Council’s efforts to maintain litter-free beaches for everyone to enjoy.

The event was organised by Kent County Council’s waste electrical recycling partner, REPIC, the largest household waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) producer compliance scheme in the UK.

Employees from REPIC’s local waste electrical treatment partners, SWEEEP Kuusakaski Ltd in Sittingbourne, also joined Kent County Council employees and REPIC’s commercial team to lend a helping hand.

Delighted to have extended their long standing relationship with Kent County Council in Spring 2022, when REPIC became the Council’s only partnered producer compliance scheme for all waste electricals collected in their recycling centres across the region. The additional beach clean-up event is the first annual project to be undertaken as part of the new framework agreement that provides added social benefits to improve the local area.

Graeme Milne, Strategic Business Development Director, at REPIC, said: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to continue to grow our commercial partnership with Kent County Council. Having come to know the team well since we started working with them in 2016, it’s been great to have the opportunity to do our bit for the local environment in Kent by helping to keep the beaches clean.

He added: “In just a few hours, the team had gathered up 26 bags of litter from the Minster Leas Beach area. It does show that you don’t need much time to make a difference. By everybody working together to create a cleaner environment, we can build stronger, healthier communities and make a positive difference.”

Sam Crayford, contracts and compliance officer, at Kent County Council, commented: “Making sure the supply chain contributes as much as possible to the overall wellbeing of the communities in which they serve has been a key driver for the Council. This event offers a great example of how we can make our limited resources go further and use procurement decisions to achieve wider outcomes for our communities. By supporting this local beach clean up event we will hopefully encourage others to volunteer to more environmentally friendly and sustainable operations in the future.”

REPIC, collect, treat and responsibly recycle waste electricals on behalf of manufacturers of household electrical products, which helps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by using the materials extracted from the recycling process in place of virgin materials.