On May 24, over 50 volunteers from Aquanaut Scuba and Snorkelling Centre, Kingston University Sub Aqua Club in association with Kingston University Students Union Volunteering undertook a huge Thames River Clean project at Kingston Upon Thames, Thameside in the UK.

Spectators walking across the bridge and along the tow path looked in disbelief at the quantity of debris that was extracted from such a small area of the Thames including 105 shopping trolleys!

Whilst divers hunted down the debris underwater, surface based volunteers pulled the various items out, loaded onto the barge and also waded to clear debris from the shallow area by Turks pier.

"The day was an amazing success, with a great spirit of camaraderie. It was fantastic to see everyone working together to make such a difference to the environment" commented Lynne Clafton, Aquanaut Scuba UK.

In total, 105 shopping trolleys were recovered, 416 glass bottles and numerous traffic cones, road signs, bikes, skateboards ... the list is endless!

The day had an amazing atmosphere as the group combined to improve the environment and everyone was incredibly proud of what had been achieved.

The event was the brainchild of Aquanaut employee and former Kingston University Student Chris Elliott who wanted to find a way for scuba divers to give back to their community.

The project was supported by Thames 21, the RNLI who came along and lent a hand, and various other Kingston University sport participants. The project also supported Project AWARE Dive Against Debris programme.

For more information about Dive Against, visit the new Dive Against Debris Map.

Photo Gallery by Tobias Gawrisch, xplor-creativity.de

Staggering amount of trash found and removed from the #Thames by @AquanautScuba volunteers: http://t.co/WR2APEBlazpic.twitter.com/M8puhjTt3e

— Project AWARE (@projectaware) June 12, 2014