Facts

Country: United Kingdome
Type of provider: Foundation
Focus:
- Recover, Rethink, Recycle, Remanufacture Using a variety of low-tech enterprises and proactive steps to encourage litter picking (R9 Recover) as fun family-friendly activities (R1 Rethink & R8 Recycle) the 2 Minute Foundation has successfully evidenced that their activities meet several the R-strategies. With the exciting new development of their A-frame Stations being viably manufactured in the UK from litter-picked marine plastics (R6 Remanufacture) they show a great ability for circularity and re-imagining of what their initiatives can achieve.

Summary of the project

The 2 Minute Foundation is a registered charity that is devoted to cleaning up the planet 2 minutes at a time. Through campaigns launched on both social media and using direct action, they aim to empower, educate, inspire and enable individuals, groups and businesses to make simple changes or take part in simple actions that will contribute to the planet’s wellbeing, as well as their own.

The #2minutebeachclean was their first campaign and so far, the hashtag has been used over 150k times. They then launched the popular #2minutestreetclean and #2minutelitterpick campaigns to make the initiative more inclusive and reach beyond our beaches to green spaces, towns and waterways. The 2 Minute Foundation strive to show people that small actions can make a big difference, and it is within everyone’s powers to protect the planet and help combat climate change. The 2 Minute Foundation also focuses on education through The 2 Minute Beach School, promote mental health and wellbeing via our #2minutesofpositivity and encourage greener lifestyle choices through our #2minutesolution ideas.

They operate a network of beach cleaning, litter picking and street cleaning Stations that make it easier for people to take action against litter. Each Station has a Guardian, who is responsible for its day to day management. Stations are stocked with litter-pickers and reusable and recycled rubbish bags (repurposed from old tents) for the general public to use. They recently revealed our first fully recycled Station, made from marine plastic collected from local beaches. This initiative demonstrates a really exciting circular closed-loop production and the charity are delighted to create something useful from the rubbish that has been collected.

Cross-border

The 2 Minute Foundation are proactively pursuing opportunities for cross-border expansion. They are currently looking for sponsors to help roll out their newest hi-spec Stations across the UK and beyond. The 2 Minute Foundation have hundreds of active litter-picking stations across the UK and are also developing a presence further afield in locations such as Greece, Portugal and Jersey.