Royal Docks volunteers take part in UK's biggest ever beach clean

Successful as it was, Evans explained that clean-ups like these are not an end in themselves. Instead, she and her husband Gareth Evans are aiming to drive systemic change. And the Evans weren't just going to get rid of these sackfuls. First, they were going to root through them and document what's inside — “very dirty, very fun,” commented Marieta.

All over the country, 45,771 volunteers were doing the same, as Big Spring Beach Cleans took place as part of the Surfers Against Sewage plastic-free initiative. The data will be collated into a list of the top brands whose products are inadvertently polluting our cities and countryside, and used to put pressure on those companies.

The litter pick was part of a month-long Royal Docks Spring Festival, a celebration of nature and biodiversity across the area. And there’s lots to be found here if you know where to look. RDLAC director Joy-Caron Canter explained that plenty of species are indigenous to this stretch of Thames-side land. Most notable perhaps is the streaked bombardier beetle, which was thought to be extinct since 1928 until a colony of it was discovered near the Thames Barrier. Some have speculated that the beetle may even have evolved its distinctive red dash right here after arriving by sea during the docks’ shipping era.

Some brownfield sites around the Royal Docks have been ignored by humans for decades, and in the meantime they’ve become home to wildlife. As the area is developed and these natural refuges disappear, it's all the more important to foster biodiversity in green spaces. Projects like the Spring Festival are working to provide habitats for bugs and bees, such as last year’s bug ‘hotel’ — aptly named “Buggingham Palace” by the children who helped to make it. Canter says that one project that's taken off this time is the biodiversity audit. The audit kit is a simple metal grid. Placed over a patch of ground, the auditor counts what's inside: “It might be species of flowers, it might be insects, it might be rubbish.” Over the years, she hopes they’ll be able to see the flowers and insects multiply and the rubbish diminish.

As well as Plastic-Free Royal Docks, children from Oasis Academy Silvertown have been out this month with bin bags collecting litter, and the Newham Muslim Forum have been leading mosques and Muslim organisations across the borough in cleaning up the streets. Join them next year and you’ll never look at a tin can or a stray plastic wrapper in quite the same way.