Take part in DMU's Big River Clean-up

Join our Make a Difference Day and spend a morning stopping plastic getting into oceans.

Students are being urged to volunteer for De Montfort University’s Big River Clean-up in Leicester aimed at stopping plastics getting into our seas and oceans.

Volunteers will take to boats and canoes as well as working on the riverbanks to clean-up plastic and other rubbish from the Grand Union Canal and River Soar, in Leicester.

The event on Wednesday 20 May, from 9.30am to 12.30pm, is part of the Canal and River Trust’s nationwide Stop Plastics Getting into Oceans campaign.

More than 14 million items of plastic get into our rivers and canals in the UK each year, with more than 80 per cent of that plastic which pollutes our seas, oceans, and beaches and kills wildlife having been discarded on land.

Dr Mark Charlton, the head of DMU’s SDG Impact Hub, said:

“This will be the third time we have staged the Big River Clean-up and consistently student volunteers have told us it is one of the best events they have taken part in.

“Students get to make a real-world difference by fishing plastic and other rubbish out of the river and canal and stopping it reaching the seas killing wildlife and causing pollution.”

Transport will be provided to the Lime Kiln Lock, in Belgrave, and all those taking part will be presented with a certificate to mark their participation in the day. Lunch will be provided back at DMU after the event.

To find out more, email dmusdg@dmu.ac.uk.

The event will mark the start of DMU’s Make A Difference Day, which will also include:

• The opening of a joint United Nations/DMU exhibition Shared Lives, Shared Future marking 80 years since the founding of the UN, which will be opened by an official from the UN
• Launch of the SDG Student Fellows programme, giving students the chance to work on projects and activities centred around the UN and Sustainable Development Goals