Search

23 Oct 2025

Brixham litter picker takes mission to London as Keep Britain Tidy ambassador

Hannah Beaumont litter picks the Thames ahead of Great British Spring Clean 2025

Brixham litter picker takes mission to London as Keep Britain Tidy ambassador

Hannah Beaumont along the Thames in London

Brixham resident Hannah Beaumont, known for her litter-picking efforts across Torbay, has been named an ambassador for the UK environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.

Hannah moved to Devon from Yorkshire in 2019 and launched her social media page Me & the Plastic Sea in 2020.

Every month, she walks a three-and-a-half-mile loop between Brixham and Paignton, documenting her findings and recording the amount of litter collected to raise awareness of the issue.

Since then, Hannah has received three letters from Sir David Attenborough, won Brixham Town Council’s Environmental Ambassador award, and, more recently, been invited to the Houses of Parliament for the launch of the Great British Spring Clean, now in its 10th year.

Above: Hannah with Brixham Town Council award certificate 

Running from March 21 to April 6, the Great British Spring Clean encourages communities to pick up litter and improve local environments. Residents are invited to pledge to collect at least one bag of litter during the campaign.

A recent survey by Keep Britain Tidy revealed that only nine out of every 100 locations in England are litter-free, with over 90 per cent of the 1,140 miles of surveyed urban and rural sites containing rubbish.

Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: “Our report is a wake-up call. It shows that litter is more than an eyesore—it prevents investment, creates inequality, damages the environment, and makes people feel depressed and unsafe. It’s unacceptable that the most deprived communities bear the brunt of the country’s litter problem.”

Hannah, who picks up litter whenever she can, is among those working to tackle the issue.

“People are always shocked by how much litter I find on each walk, especially if they haven’t seen my page before,” she said. 

“The response has been really positive. I’ve always loved David Attenborough, and I want to make a difference in the world. One person alone can’t change everything, but small actions add up. I’ve had people tell me they started litter picking after seeing my posts, which is amazing. If everyone did a little bit, I believe we could change the world.”

Hannah has also completed 24-hour litter-picking marathons to improve her fitness and raise money for charity, including Manorlands Hospice, where her grandmother received care before passing away in 2019.

During her recent ambassador visit to London, she helped clean up the Thames with fellow litter enthusiast Flora, who founded Washed Up Cards, a company that creates greeting cards using plastic collected from UK beaches.

Above: (L to R) Flora and Hannah litter picking along the Thames

Hannah said: “It was a lovely couple of hours chatting with someone whose brain seems to work like mine! We found so much of the same rubbish—Nerf gun bullets, shoes, plastic bottles—along with more unusual items like religious and cultural offerings, loads of polystyrene, and of course, glass and pottery, which I happily pocketed! We even found two googly eyes, two footballs, and a toy car.”

Reflecting on the Great British Spring Clean launch, she added: “It was wonderful to meet other ambassadors, and I felt incredibly lucky to have this opportunity. What a way to celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in Science—the amount of marine and plastic-related knowledge I’ve taught myself over the years and (I hope!) shared with others is crazy!”

Above: Hannah with fellow Keep Britain Tidy Ambassadors in London

As part of the Great British Spring Clean, Hannah is walking 30 miles around Torbay—litter picking along the way—to raise money for The Patchwork House, a charity that provides emotional support and practical advice to help people escape domestic abuse.

The 30-mile distance represents the statistic that every 30 seconds, police receive a call related to domestic abuse.

You can donate to Hannah's walk at: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/plasticseapatchworkhouse?

For more information on the Great British Spring Clean, visit: www.keepbritaintidy.org/great-british-spring-clean 

To continue reading this article,
please subscribe and support local journalism!


Subscribing will allow you access to all of our premium content and archived articles.

Subscribe

To continue reading this article for FREE,
please kindly register and/or log in.


Registration is absolutely 100% FREE and will help us personalise your experience on our sites. You can also sign up to our carefully curated newsletter(s) to keep up to date with your latest local news!

Register / Login

Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.

Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.