Beach Buddies win international award 

Lauded for 'pioneering work in schools'

Local environmental group Beach Buddies say they're 'on top of the world' after scooping one of the world’s top environment honours at an awards ceremony.

The Manx charity was voted the winner in one of five categories at a high-profile event in Trondheim, Norway following a national win in London last month.

The group was praised for its 'pioneering educational work in schools and with young people'.

Founder Bill Dale attended the awards ceremony with four members of the charity’s operations committee who self-funded their trip.

Mr Dale said: "This is beyond exceptional and a wonderful accolade for the Isle of Man.

"We have been saying for many, many years that we believe we have found a simple and workable solution to the problem of rubbish on the world’s beaches and in the oceans, and to receive an endorsement like this is just incredible."

He added: "From the very beginning in 2006 we immediately saw that children wanted to be involved and they genuinely loved the chance to race down the beaches to collect rubbish.

"Since then every single school in the Isle of Man has been involved regularly numerous times a year in cleaning up beaches with Beach Buddies - and not just on beaches but also their own school grounds and everywhere inland, such as parks, plantations, footpaths, hills, pavements, rivers, playgrounds - everywhere.

"Today in the Isle of Man, it’s now considered anti-social to throw litter in the streets - or anywhere - and we like to think we have played a major part in making this happen.

"The Isle of Man and its people are unique in the world for this way of thinking and the Energy Globe Awards have recognised this.

"This award is a tribute to everyone in the Isle of Man and beyond who has supported Beach Buddies over the last 18 years and we are honoured that such a highly respected international organisation as Energy Globe has recognised what we have done and what we are trying to do around the world.

"This is just an amazing, amazing moment for Beach Buddies and we want to say thank you to every single person who has ever picked up a piece of rubbish. This award is for us all."