UK Divers Give The River Thames A Clean Up

Last month over 50 volunteers from Aquanaut Scuba and Snorkelling Centre, Kingston University Sub Aqua Club in association with Kingston University Students Union Volunteering undertook a huge Thames River Clean project at Kingston Upon Thames, Thameside.

Spectators walking across the bridge and along the tow path looked in disbelief at the quantity of debris that was extracted from such a small area of the Thames.

Whilst divers hunted down the debris underwater, surface based volunteers pulled the various items out and then loaded them onto the barge and also waded to clear debris from the shallow area by Turks pier.

Over 4 tonnes of debris was removed from the Thames and the haul included:

105 Shopping Trolleys

8 traffic cones

5 tyres

4 carpets

14 bicycles

35 skateboards

388 bottles

244 glasses

3 prams

1 microwave door

1 stove

and 3 coconuts!

The day was an amazing success, with a great spirit of camaraderie. It was fantastic to see everyone working together to make such a difference to the environment.

The event was the brainchild of Aquanaut employee and former Kingston University Student Chris Elliott who wanted to find a way for scuba divers to contribute to and give back to their community.

The project was supported by Thames 21, the RNLI (who came along and lent a hand), and various other Kingston University sport participants. The project also supported Project AWARE’s ‘Dive against Debris’ campaign.

You can view more pictures from the day here.