DLD College London has hosted a litter picking event in Lower Mash and Waterloo Millennium Park, with students from a variety of nationalities volunteering in the cleanup. The event was also supported by the London’s Royal Docks Learning & Activity Centre who provided part of the equipment for the philanthropic initiative.

The team from the College participated in the inspiring event launched by Surfers Against Sewages, its biggest Autumn Beach and River Clean with 15,000 volunteers cleaning more than 400 beaches and 60 rivers across the UK, including riverside green areas & riverside neighbourhoods in London, tackling plastic pollution before it reaches our coastlines.

Showcasing its commitment to helping improve the lives of all those that share the same community space as the Westminster Bridge-based college, this year the student council formed a Community Projects group which is led by a duo of Year 13 Students (Cody and Sofia), and supported by Gareth Evans (DLD Director of Studies). The cleanup was the inaugural event for this group with lots more exciting plans for the year to be announced in due course.

DLD Director of Studies, Gareth Evans commented, “We are immensely proud of our students for participating in this worthy campaign, their tireless efforts were greatly appreciated and it was delightful to hear members of the public congratulating them for their support to the community.

“We believe that by providing our students with the opportunities to spend valued time interacting with the community, they are able to take ownership of their responsibilities and enhance their personal development, leadership abilities and awareness of diversity.”  

Since its launch in 2011, the Surfers Against Sewage Autumn Beach & River Clean up has seen over 28,000 volunteers remove 80,000kg of marine plastic pollution (the equivalent of over 19,500 bin bags) at 932 Autumn Beach Clean events.

This year is more important than ever as the Government is planning to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme – a system where every plastic drinks bottle and can be recycled and we create a circular economy. This has been hugely successful in Norway and parts of the US and has been the result of lots of campaigning by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) and others.

SAS are pushing for a world class scheme that includes ALL bottles and cans as these are the items found on our beaches.

SAS is a national marine conservation and campaigning charity that inspires, unites and empowers communities to take action to protect oceans, beaches, waves and wildlife.

DLD College London is housed in highly contemporary, purpose-built premises in the heart of London, on 199 Westminster Bridge Road, overlooking the Palace of Westminster and the River Thames.

The College offers students the chance to study a wide range and flexible combination of A-Levels, BTEC courses, International Foundation Programmes (IFP) and GCSEs.

As part of the Alpha Plus Group, DLD College provides a ‘gold standard’ of educational quality. Classes are small, enabling students and teachers to focus upon the most effective ways of learning and to provide them with the highest levels of pastoral care.

To find out more about DLD College London go to www.dldcollege.co.uk