Plastic Free Communities FAQs

The new 2026-2030 SAS strategy has laid out a crucial need to focus on sewage pollution, with building public pressure and a once in a lifetime opportunity to fix the broken water system in the UK. This means SAS will be moving away from plastic pollution for this strategy period, which means some changes to how we work with Plastic Free Communities. 

With our new strategy focusing everything on sewage pollution, SAS is stepping back from plastic pollution campaigning. That means we are no longer signing up new communities and businesses to Plastic Free Communities or giving out the community and business awards.  

We are working with all our existing Plastic Free Communities to enable them to continue their local plastic free work and remain connected to each other as a national network, as well as through the SAS Movement. They will still be able to access resources, actions and campaigns to support their local work. 

Existing Plastic Free Champion awards are for keeps, and businesses can keep using their stamp and certificate. SAS will stop giving out the award after the final application date of 14th December. Local communities can keep working with businesses and may choose to run their own awards. Our Plastic Free Champions will be able to continue to be part of the SAS Movement. We’ll be letting all our businesses know how they can continue to reduce single-use plastic and get involved with SAS work. 

Million Mile Clean remains one of our core actions and a central way we connect with campaigners locally. You can keep signing up cleans, accessing kit and insurance, and logging your Citizen Science data as normal. 

The data we collect on plastic will still be utilised and shared with partners and academics to further their campaigns to combat plastic pollution. Additionally, over this strategy period, we’re evolving the Million Mile Clean so that it covers more pollution types and becomes a way of connecting communities to whatever is threatening the waters they love

Plastic Free Schools has now ended as an award programme with SAS. We are creating new schools’ resource packs, which will include updated plastic pollution information within them and be accessible from the SAS website. You can also join the SAS Plastic Free Schools updates newsletter if you would like to have updates directly with them.  Sign up here for PFS news and updates. 

If you’re signed up to Plastic Free Communities as a lead, business or individual, your contact details will move into the main SAS database in January 2027, in line with our privacy policy. That means you’ll keep getting news, actions and updates from SAS through the new SAS Movement. You can opt out at any time using the unsubscribe link in any of our emails. You can also update your preferences or ask us to stop contacting you by calling 01872 553001 or emailing privacy@sas.org.uk. 

The best way to stay updated right away about SAS work and the movement is by signing up to our newsletter > Sign up to our newsletter – Surfers Against Sewage 

Small actions really do make a difference, so start with small manageable swaps. The Plastic Free Business Toolkit will still be available to download and you can head to sas.org.uk to find more information on plastic pollution here https://www.sas.org.uk/plastic-pollution/. There are also lots of informative blogs at https://plasticfree.org.uk/plastic-free-inspiration/  

You can also check our our SAS Ocean Network, a powerful community uniting committed brands and passionate professionals to tackle sewage, plastic, and chemical pollution in our waterways. 

If you’re not already connected with your local Plastic Community, find them on  our map  so you can work together to tackle single-use plastic in your community and  council operations. If you are already working with your local Plastic Free Community, you can continue to support and work with them as they continue their local work on the ground. 

Small actions really do make a difference, so start with small manageable swaps. You can find out more about plastic pollution here 

You can sign up for an individual action plan here 

There are a variety of informative blogs here  

If you’d like to be more hands on, you can join or lead a Million Mile Clean, It doesn’t have to a be an organised event, and even short cleans make a huge difference, and helps us uncover the scale of plastic pollution in the UK.  

You can also get in touch with your local Plastic Free Community by searching online and through social media, or through our map 

For the period 2026-2030, we are focusing everything we do on ending sewage pollution, because that’s where the window of opportunity is open. Public anger is at a tipping point, political will is cresting, and there’s a genuine chance to win lasting systemic reform. We’re also committing to campaigning across every part of the UK, recognising that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each face different water ownership models, legislation and political contexts, and each deserves dedicated, localised attention. 

Alongside this, we’re bringing our community together into one unified movement rather than a network of separate campaign groups, to amplify its power and set us up for the future. With a consolidated movement, we can direct that collective power wherever the fight matters most, and shift it again when the moment demands. 

This strategy marks the end of one strategic period for SAS and the start of the next. As a charity, we have a responsibility to make sure our resources go where they’ll deliver the most impact for the UK’s waters. Looking honestly at our work, we found that spreading our efforts too thinly across multiple issues wasn’t translating into the systemic change we exist to achieve. 

This strategy is about correcting that, for the long term. It’s as much about how we operate as what we’re campaigning on today: building an SAS that identifies where the real opportunity for change is and moves its full power there. 

The strategy was shaped through wide engagement across SAS, including all staff and trustees. That was combined with robust analysis of where we can make the biggest impact, and honest conversations about what SAS’s role primarily is. We have also consulted widely with the broader SAS community to help shape what the new SAS Movement looks like in practice. 

The strategy covers 2026 to 2030 and is already shaping our campaigning priorities. Other structural elements, including what the new SAS Movement looks like in practice, are being worked through now, with more detail to follow as that process concludes. 

Plastic pollution is still a serious threat to our waters. But right now, sewage is where we have the clearest chance to win lasting change. Public anger is at a tipping point, political will is building, and there’s a real opportunity to reform how the water industry works. As a charity, we have to put our resources where they’ll make the biggest difference, and a fight this big needs our single-minded focus. The Clean Water Bill is one route we’re pushing hard on, but our strategy isn’t staked on any one piece of legislation. 

No. Plastic pollution remains a huge problem for our seas, rivers and beaches, and many brilliant organisations and local groups will keep tackling it. Our choice is about where SAS can have the most impact over the next few years, not about which issue matters more. 

This strategy sets our focus for the next period, not forever. The changes we’re making to how we work are built for agility: when the landscape changes, or when we’ve won the fight in front of us, we can direct our campaigning power and community energy at the next biggest opportunity for our waters. 

That’s the point of the changes. This isn’t just about choosing sewage over other issues. It’s about building an SAS that can take on any systemic threat to UK waters, wherever and whenever it arises, with everything we’ve got. Right now, that means sewage. 

There are still plenty of ways to take action. Million Mile Clean carries on as normal, and our Plastic Pollution Guide and Individual Action Plan will sit alongside it. Many Plastic Free Communities are carrying on as independent local groups, so look out for yours. We’re also working with Everyday Plastic to support national actions, and there are lots of other organisations campaigning on plastic that you can get involved with. 

This strategy commits to more dedicated attention for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, not less. Water is a devolved issue, and each nation has its own legislative framework, ownership model and political context. We’re committed to building our presence and impact in all four nations over this strategy period, with campaigning shaped by local circumstances rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. 

Surfers Against Sewage is a national marine conservation and campaigning charity taking action to protect the ocean, beaches, waves and wildlife. By supporting SAS, you are helping us create ocean activists everywhere, for our vision of a thriving ocean, and thriving people. Check out our fundraising page for ideas, and get in touch if you have any more questions.

Why not set up your own fundraiser and make waves in supporting our ocean-saving work? Check out our fundraising page for some epic ideas.

Yes we do.

You can order tins via this form.

If you would like to raise money for SAS via a collection tin, then you must:

• Count all cash collected with another responsible person or official bank representative present, and transfer funds collected to SAS via bank transfer.
• Let SAS know via fundraising@sas.org.uk once you have made this bank transfer of the funds collected and counted.
• Make sure you have permission from the land owner, whether that is private, or a venue. For public spaces – you will be need to apply for a street licence which can take up to a month to obtain. There’s more info here.

If you want to stop using the tin, just post  the empty collection tin to SAS after the fundraiser, but you would need to cover the costs of this.