Hastings Pier Jam organiser adopts ‘strict measures’ to prevent plastic waste

The large amount of rubbish was still on Hastings Pier on Sunday morning. Picture: Josh Speer

The event will be held on Saturday (May 4), eight months after a large amount of plastic waste was left on the pier and blown into the sea following the last Pier Jam.

On September 9, 2018 – the day after the event – pictures circulated on social media showing large quantities of plastic – mainly empty cups and bottles – strewn across the pier.

Responding to criticism, organiser One UK Events said it was let down by 17 members of staff who failed to show up on the day.

It said it did not want to leave the rubbish until after the weekend so recruited local firm Fineshine to help with the clear up.

Those cleaners were Paige Saunders and Catherine Sawyer-Dove who spent eight and a half hours clearing 200 bags of rubbish from the pier.

Ahead of this weekend’s event, Oliver Ibrahim, director of One UK Events, said: “We have taken the feedback seriously and we have put some strict measures in place to ensure the waste is greatly reduced for all our events not just on Hastings Pier. There will be no single use plastic cups or plastic straws at this years event. As you know we made a substantial donation to plastic oceans last year.

“We are running a reusable ‘one cup’ system for this and all our future events to encourage party goers to be more responsible with their waste. It runs on a deposit scheme whereby a £1 deposit is paid for the cup at the beginning of the event and they retain for the duration. If they return their cup to the collection point they receive a refund on exit.

“We have also put a strict waste management policy in place with our suppliers. Whilst it’s not possible at this stage to eliminate plastic from the events entirely, as a company we are working hard to greatly reduce single use plastics and our environmental impact across the board.

“We are asking that the party goers help us achieve this by being responsible with their waste disposal.”

17 Hastings Pier Jam clean-up team members fail to turn up for work

Rubbish from Hastings Pier Jam ‘has blown into the sea’