Tackling litter and loneliness

Loneliness and how it can affect us all

Loneliness is a part of life and something that most of us experience at some point. But when loneliness is severe or lasts a long time, it can have a negative impact on our health and well-being. Recent studies suggest that long-term loneliness is one of the largest health concerns we face. It is as harmful as obesity or smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Feeling lonely can lead to depression, anxiety, disrupted sleep and stress. It can also be a factor in heart disease, increased blood pressure and degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Who are we?

We are Sustainable Hive; we’re specialists in sustainability, experienced experts in green education, engagement and community. Here to connect people to create action, by bridging gaps and building confidence. SeaCycler is a wonderful asset and creates the perfect situation building relationships, lowering barriers, finding commonalities. By sitting side by side and keeping busy, people feel more able to open up, and new friendships are made.

Who will we partner with?

Marmalade Trust is a charity tackling loneliness. Loneliness can feel like a tricky topic to broach. Most commonly when we think of a lonely person we imagine someone who is old and sad, when in real life that is often not the case. We can feel both happy and lonely, we can be young and feel lonely, we can hold down a full-time job and/or have a family and friends and feel lonely. Often we don’t want to say anything for fear of embarrassing ourselves or other people. In a wider context, we can unintentionally stigmatise loneliness even further by the way we talk about it. Marmalade Trust lead Loneliness Awareness Week among many other important events tackling the issue.

What will participants do?

We want to invite people who use Marmalade Trust on board to help clear the beautiful Bristol harbour of the litter that blows into the water from being dropped in the street. A staggering 11,300 bags of litter is dropped every single year on just one street in Bristol and on a windy, rainy day that can make its way into the harbour, damaging wildlife and heading out to the Bristol channel.

Participants will hop on to Bristol Community Ferry for a private tour of the harbour; the skipper will share insight into harbour history, invite participants to share memories and their own stories. The ferry will drop everyone off at SeaCycler; half of the group will hop onboard for their plastic fishing session and the other half will join us for a land based litter pick before swapping. Once completed, everyone will come together to weigh, sort and discuss the litter collected before coming together for a well deserved lunch.

Feeling connected

The flipside of loneliness is connection. It’s important to know that a person isn’t defined by their loneliness; it’s just something that they are experiencing at that point in time and they’re still a unique and interesting individual with a range of hobbies and talents. However, feeling lonely can sometimes zap your zest for life or affect your confidence to join a club or community. We will encourage these connections. So, piece by piece we will remove litter from the water aboard SeaCycler, our very own plastic litter fishing boat made from 99% recycled single-use plastic and piece by piece we will tackle the stigmas around loneliness.

The icing on the cake

A lunch will be provided predominantly with the intention of using food to improve social connection. Meal sharing is a way to spend time with others, but more than that, it invites intimate conversations, laughter, and a spirit of togetherness. 

Money raised will contribute towards transport, food and a simple venue as well as staff costs.