Heysham 2 power station staff conduct local beach cleans
Volunteers from Heysham 2 Power Station are proud to support the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) Great British Beach Clean.
Earlier this month, teams from the EDF-owned nuclear power station swapped their hard hats for litter pickers to collect rubbish from two areas of local coastline.
The two groups removed 25 bags of litter from the beaches at Middleton Sands and Half Moon Bay, over two days. The rubbish collected included carpet, plastic bottles, rope, straws and glass.
The two-hour-long litter-picking sessions were organised as part of the station’s commitment to environmental responsibility and community engagement. Recognising the growing issue of marine pollution and the important work of the MCS, the team, armed with binbags, were delighted to be able to support this great initiative.
Martin Cheetham, Station Director at Heysham 2 Power Station, said: “At the power station, we’re dedicated not only to powering homes and businesses, but also to powering change in our community.
“This beach clean is just one of the ways we can give back and have a positive local impact. It’s inspiring to see our team members getting involved and helping to make a difference.”
The biggest source of rubbish on the beach is visitors, and after a busy summer, September is an opportune month to conduct beach cleans, at a time when coastal litter is potentially at its worst. It is hoped that these proactive measures will prevent the rubbish being washed out to sea and endangering some of the area’s best-loved wildlife.
The Great British Beach Clean is an annual, week-long event, where hundreds of beach cleans take place up and down the UK. The data collected helps the MCS to campaign for positive change and feeds into the International Coastal Clean-up (ICC).
Data collected from previous beach cleans has already been used to make a positive impact on our ocean, including the introduction of the plastic bag charge, banning microplastics in personal care products, improved wet wipe labelling, and supporting a tax on single-use plastic items.
According to the MCS website, this was the first time that a beach clean has ever been organised at Middleton Sands.
Both Middleton Sands and Half Moon Bay, which are only a short distance from the power stations, are popular beach destinations for swimming, fishing and observing local wildlife.
Victoria Baird, Environmental Safety Engineer at Heysham 2 Power Station, who led the clean up was delighted by everyone's efforts. She said: “It was a great event, the sun was shining, and we got really good engagement from colleagues all over the station.
“We cleared a lot of rubbish, some left by beach goers and some brought in by the tide. We have made a couple of local beaches much nicer, and we have collected some valuable data for the MCS too.
“It was great to see everyone coming together and making a difference in our community. A huge thank you to everyone who took part.”
About EDF
EDF is driving the transition towards An Electric Britain – a secure, affordable, low-carbon future for everyone. As Britain’s biggest generator of zero carbon electricity, we are investing more than £100 million weekly in Britain’s electricity infrastructure. We supply millions of customers with electricity and help homes and businesses switch to electricity for heating, transport and industrial processes.
We operate five nuclear power stations and more than 35 onshore wind farms and three offshore wind farms. Since 2009, EDF has invested almost £9 billion in the nuclear fleet to improve reliability and extend station lifetimes. The five generating stations currently supply about 12% of the UK’s electricity demand.
EDF is building the UK's nuclear renaissance with the construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C. We are a minority investor (12.5%) in and major supplier to a replica plant at Sizewell C in Suffolk. Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C will provide low carbon electricity to meet 14% of UK demand and power around 12 million homes. EDF Group companies Framatome and Arabelle Solutions have a presence in the UK and manufacture critical equipment such as reactor pressure vessels and turbines.
EDF is enabling its 5 million customers, both in business and at home, to choose electric solutions that save cash and carbon, whether it is buying an electric car, generating and storing electricity, selling energy back to the grid or installing solar panels or a heat pump. In 2025, EDF’s Customers business was ranked as one of the Sunday Times’s Best Place to Work.
It is also one of the UK’s leading developers of renewable energy through EDF power solutions UK and Ireland. We have more than 2GW of renewable generation in operation and over 10GW in construction, planning and development across a range of technologies including onshore and offshore wind, solar and battery storage.
We are one of the largest suppliers to British business and a leading supplier of innovative energy solutions that are helping businesses become more energy independent. In addition, the company’s energy services business, Dalkia, one of the UK and Ireland’s largest technical service providers.
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