Bristol pulled a Nintendo Switch out of its harbour. Ten years on, people are swimming in it

For ten years, volunteers have been taking boats out into Bristol Harbour to collect rubbish that floats beyond the reach of the shore. The group behind those trips, Clean Up Bristol Harbour, began in September 2016 1 and is marking its tenth year this month.

An inflatable doll, a Nintendo Switch, a kettle, tennis balls, glasses and single shoes. Plenty of plastic cones, alcohol bottles and Nespresso capsules, plus clothing including thermals still in their packaging. A message in a bottle holding a note written in Spanish, and a packet of butcher's tripe mix. 1

Most of what comes up is ordinary: plastic packaging, bottles, cans, polystyrene and takeaway rubbish. The memorable finds sit on top of that. 1

One of them dates the rubbish itself. A volunteer once came up with a Marathon wrapper, the chocolate bar that was renamed Snickers in the UK in 1990. 1

"You never quite know what you're going to pull out of Bristol Harbour," says the group's founder, Chloe Juyon. 1

"Some of the things we've found over the years have definitely made us laugh but there is a serious point behind it," she says. "So much floating rubbish simply can't be reached from the harbourside. Getting volunteers onto the water was always a big part of what I wanted Clean Up Bristol Harbour to become." 1

Juyon started the group after rubbish kept drifting past her while she was steering a rowing boat on the River Avon at high tide. 1

"There were just five of us at that first clean-up in 2016," she says. 1

The project has since passed to All Aboard Watersports, the harbourside charity that runs it now. 1

The results are counted. Between 2021 and 2023, 236 volunteers took more than 880kg of waste out of the harbour, and almost 390kg of that went for recycling. 1

The change shows in what people can now do in the water. Charley Peak-Payne, of All Aboard Watersports, says the effect on wildlife has been "a gradual but noticeable change", and that the harbour is clean enough to host swimming events. 1

"The water that they are swimming in is considerably cleaner — to the point that we are now running swimming events in the harbour too, something that due to pollution would never have happened 10 years ago," he says. 1

The project's money has run out. Without new support, the charity can only run a limited number of further community clean-ups. 12

Bristol's Floating Harbour runs about three miles through the middle of the city, and rubbish that stays in it can drift downstream into the River Avon, the Severn Estuary and the wider marine environment. 2

A Crowdfunder to keep volunteers on the water has an initial target of £5,000, which the charity says pays for qualified instructors, boats and fuel, litter-picking and safety equipment, and the monitoring that turns a haul into a record. When I looked this morning it stood at £1,350 from 31 supporters, with 25 days left. 2

Donations to the campaign are collected on its Clean Up Bristol Harbour: 10 Years & Counting page.

Joining costs nothing. Sessions run for about two hours, meeting at 9.50am to fit buoyancy aids before heading out at 10am, and you now need to book a place so there is room on the boats. The charity provides the litter-picking equipment, and asks anyone who has their own gloves to bring them. 3

To mark the decade, the group organised a land-and-harbour litter pick, timed to World Cleanup Day on 20 September. 34

Juyon stepped away from running the project several years ago. "Seeing it reach its tenth birthday is quite amazing," she says. "For me, it really demonstrates the power of community." 1