More than 50 people took time out from their day jobs at Northumbrian Water to help keep the North East coastline looking beautiful.
The group, from the company’s Wastewater and Maintenance teams in South Durham, Darlington and Teesside, visited Saltburn beach to pick litter and clean up the area.
The 50 colleagues carried out the beach clean over two dates in support of Redcar & Cleveland Council’s ‘Love It’ initiative, which encourages people to take pride in the area where they live and work, and follows major investment in bathing water standards.
Iain Wilson, Treatment Works Manager at Bran Sands, said: “Northumbrian Water has invested £1 billion over the last 20 years in improving bathing waters across the North East, including millions in the Saltburn area, which has seen the beach go from ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ in the European standards last year.
“Our role in ensuring the North East has great bathing waters is really important to us, but when people enjoy the coast, the cleanliness of the beach itself also plays a big part in making a trip to the seaside enjoyable.
“It took no persuading to get more than 50 people to spend some time down at the beach to help keep it a beautiful place for people to visit.”
Northumbrian Water’s Just An Hour programme encourages people who are employed by the water company to volunteer for good causes during work hours.
Each year, more than 50% of people at Northumbrian Water take part in the employee volunteering initiative, supporting the communities the company serves.