Wembury Beach Clean, 21 November 2026: Our Team Day

On Saturday 21 November the PBM team is leaving the office for the shoreline. We will spend the morning clearing litter from Wembury Beach, on the coast just east of Plymouth Sound, as part of our sustainability programme. It is about more than simply picking up litter. It is about making a positive contribution to the environment and to the local communities we work in, spending time together as a team, and supporting our sustainability programme.

The Day at a Glance

Tide times here are predictions for Plymouth (Devonport). Wembury differs slightly, and the weather can move the water further, so we will check the forecast again on the morning.

Why We Are Doing It

Most of our sustainability work happens out of sight. Communal electricity for the developments we manage can be supplied on a 100% UK-generated renewable tariff through our partnership with Ecotricity, which our utilities procurement page explains. We are also cutting waste and paper across the business, and we look for ways to make buildings cheaper and cleaner to run. A beach clean is the visible, hands-on part of the same commitment, which our sustainability page sets out in full.

It is also close to home. Many of our residents live close to the coast, and our own office is at the Queen Anne's Battery marina. The coastline is part of what makes these places good to live in, and keeping it clean, healthy and beautiful matters to many of our residents, and to us.

Small actions make a big difference. Two hours on one beach will not solve marine litter, but it removes real rubbish from a protected shore, and it shows the team that sustainability is something we do, not only something we write about.

Why Wembury?

Wembury is a special place for marine life. It was designated a voluntary Marine Conservation Area in 1981, and the Wembury Marine Centre, run by Devon Wildlife Trust as part of a partnership, helps visitors explore it. The National Trust describes it as having some of the best rock pools in the country.

It is protected in law too. The shore lies within the Plymouth Sound and Estuaries Special Area of Conservation, and the official site description singles out the rocky reefs off Wembury and the Great Mewstone, the island just offshore. Wembury also sits at the edge of the South Devon National Landscape.

The local code of conduct asks visitors to take only photos, keep only memories and leave only footprints, to take all litter home, and not to land on the Mewstone, which is left undisturbed for nesting birds. A beach clean is that code in action.

What Turns Up on UK Beaches

The Marine Conservation Society runs Beachwatch, its volunteer beach survey, in which volunteers count every item of litter along a measured 100 metre stretch of beach. Its 2025 results show both an improvement and how far there is still to go.

Plastic dominates across the North East Atlantic too. OSPAR, the body through which governments monitor that sea area, reports that plastic always makes up more than 92% of beach litter, and the UK government's own marine assessment says Good Environmental Status for marine litter has not yet been achieved.

How We Will Keep It Safe

We will follow the Marine Conservation Society's guidance for organised beach cleans. In practice that means:

• Everyone wears strong, sturdy gloves.
• Needles and syringes are left where they are, never picked up.
• Sharp metal and broken glass go into a bucket, not a bag.
• Anything heavy or half-buried stays put. As the guidance says, if in doubt, don't lift.
• With the tide coming in, we will stay on the upper beach and away from the outer rocks.
• Everything we collect leaves the beach with us and is disposed of properly.

What You Can Do

This one is a team event, but the same small actions work anywhere:

• Use your building's bin store properly. Rubbish and recycling in the right bins keeps communal areas clean, and avoiding contaminated or overflowing bins saves costs that would otherwise reach the service charge.
• Take your litter home from the beach, as the Wembury code asks.
• Join a public beach clean. The Marine Conservation Society lists beach cleans across the UK, so you can find one near you, and every September it runs the Great British Beach Clean.
• Tell your property manager about litter or fly-tipping around your development, so it can be cleared before it spreads.

Our resident FAQs cover bin stores, bulky waste and recycling in more detail.

Common Questions

A few questions you may have about the beach clean.

Sources

Everything above is taken from these, not from a summary of them:

1. Designations Wembury Marine Centre
2. Wembury MCA Code of Conduct (April 2021) Wembury Marine Centre
3. Wembury Marine Centre Devon Wildlife Trust
4. Wembury National Trust
5. Plymouth Sound and Estuaries SAC JNCC
6. Explore Wembury South Devon National Landscape