As the temperatures climb and rubbish creeps back to our shores, Deliveroo’s Roocycle Your Rubbish initiative returns. The food delivery company is committed to keeping seaside spaces litter free and feels compelled to do its part once more.
This weekend, Deliveroo will be at several UK beaches to keep ‘em clean as Brits flock to the shores for a summer holiday staycation.
First launched in 2018, a similar campaign celebrated the arrival of Deliveroo at nearly 100 beach and coastal locations. This time round, the brand is responding to a different need – the need for clean. As families are forced to make the most of UK sunshine due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, they’ve headed to the beaches, and the litter has come with them.
As people resign themselves to a summer at home, the search term ‘UK holiday’ has soared up 103% compared to this time last year. A recent study has also revealed that 66% of us are interested in booking a holiday in the UK this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The UK hit 33 degrees last month and a reported 11 tonnes of litter was picked up from Brighton beach with similar stories all over the country. In a bid to decrease these shocking figures, beach goers will be handed buckets to collect rubbish, which can then be swapped for Deliveroo credit! The campaign is supported by Clean Up Britain.
John Read, Founder at Clean Up Britain said, “Great to see Deliveroo cleaning up Britain’s beaches – that’s a really important and responsible thing to be doing. They are welcome to help us clean up the rest of Britain, when they’ve finished! It’s not only beaches that are covered in litter, but, sadly, the whole of the country. I love having my pizza delivered by Deliveroo, and also ensuring the packaging is properly discarded. Let’s make sure all of Deliveroo’s customers do the same. Enjoy the fab food, but don’t trash beautiful Britain.”
As one of the worst hit beaches in the UK, Brighton was the first visited by the Roocyclers last Friday followed by Bournemouth and Southend. Tomorrow 1 August 2020, they’ll be in Edinburgh.
In 2018 Deliveroo became the first food delivery company to require customers to opt-in to receive plastic cutlery with their meals. This has drastically reduced the number of meals being delivered with cutlery – fewer than 10% of meals ordered now have this. This global feature means millions of pieces of single-use plastic are being saved each year, meaning that less end up on shores.
Arabella Jenkins at Deliveroo said, “This is likely to be one of the strangest summers that many of us have experienced – we could all use a trip to the beach. Whilst we’re delivering food to beaches, it’s also important to us that we do our part to keep them clean. It’s only right that we get out there and help.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
