Get Involved

The 1000 Tyres Project is a community enterprise that involves lots of enthusiastic volunteers working alongside the Project team, so please find out below how you can get involved. We run maritime history projects and marine environmental cleanup projects so there is always a lot going on.

Getting involved with Fieldwork

Can you help with recovering tyres and other junk from the foreshore?

We work with other clean-up teams in the area to help recover rubbish from the foreshore and we run our own clean-up campaigns with our own volunteers.

To work with us on the foreshore you need to be reasonably fit and active and to bring along your own boots that are suitable for muddy fieldwork. We provide safety training for the volunteers that work with us as well as protective equipment and tools.

Please get in touch using the message form below or through our social media channels.

Would you like to help us clean up the seabed in Plymouth Sound?

We use unpaid volunteer divers to recover tyres and other junk from Plymouth Sound and its rivers. Diving operations are usually undertaken in shallow water (<20m depth) but in low visibility, particularly when disturbing the seabed to recover tyres and other junk. Divers will descend down a shot line to the seabed, search an area using a circular search method, then recover any tyres in that area using lifting bags. The crew on the surface then recover the floating tyres into the workboat.

To volunteer:

Divers must be qualifed to a minimum of HSE Professional Scuba, BSAC Sports diver, PADI Rescue Diver or equivalent .
Divers must provide their own diving equipment.
Divers must be comfortable being underwater.
Experience in low visibility diving, underwater search and the use of lifting bags is welcome.

Please note that we do not offer paid diving employment.

Please get in touch using the message form below or through our social media channels.

Getting involved with Fundraising

Can you help with fundraising?

Can you help raising funds to help clean up the seabed and rivers around Plymouth?

Please get in touch using the message form below or through our social media channels.

Would you contribute to the 1000 TyresProject?

The SHIPS Project is a Community Interest Company that relies on donations and in-kind support to carry on the work we do cleaning up Plymouth Sound and its estuaries.

To get involved with the 1000 Tyres Project please send us a message below:

Why we need your support:

To produce a feasibility study that looks at more ways to recycle tyres, plastics and GRP.
To create training material for the divers recovering tyres and other junk.
To educate and inform everyone about the problem of discarded tyres and dumped rubbish and how each person can make an impact.
To develop an interactive website showing the progress of the project.
To develop an app that shows the location of each tyre or object and lets our volunteers report back when they have been identified or recovered.
To continue mapping the seabed in Plymouth Sound to record the location of tyres and dumped junk. With a complete map we will identify more tyres and dumped rubbish producing microplastics and leaching pollutants into our marine environment

Help us remove a source of pollution from our seas.
Contribute to scientific research to promote the health of our seas and oceans.
Help educate the people of people about Plymouth’s marine pollution and to make more local citizen scientists.

Click the images for a larger version

Volunteer divers from Plymouth Sound BSAC recovering tyres [1000 Tyres Project]

Recovering tonnes of waste from the seabed off Mutton Cove [1000 Tyres Project]

Tyres recovered from Plymouth Sound [1000 Tyres Project]

Mallory removing tonnes of plastic and scrap metal from Pomphlett Creek [1000 Tyres Project]

Image use policy

Our images can be used under a CC attribution non-commercial licence (unless stated otherwise).