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The UK has more than 400 designated bathing waters, monitored through the summer months, and the majority now meet good or excellent standards. That is a genuine success story. But clean bathing water is about more than bacteria counts. It is also about what we carry into the sea on our skin.
On a hot August Saturday, a popular beach might see thousands of swimmers. Most will have applied sun cream an hour earlier. Some of it stays on the skin, some rubs off on towels, and a proportion ends up in the water. Sewage overflows and agricultural runoff remain far bigger pressures on our coastline, and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise. Sunscreen is simply the part of the problem we control entirely, every time we pack a bag for the beach.
Most sunscreens use one of two approaches. Chemical (or organic) filters absorb UV radiation and convert it to heat. Mineral filters — zinc oxide and titanium dioxide — sit on the surface of the skin and scatter UV away.
If you want to reduce what washes off into your local swimming spot, the ingredient list is where to look. Chemical filters that have attracted the most concern in marine studies include:
These are not banned in the UK, and the evidence base is uneven. But several are known to persist in water, accumulate in aquatic organisms, and cause harm to coral at the concentrations found in busy tourist bays. Mineral filters are generally considered the lower-impact choice, especially in non-nano form — particles larger than 100 nanometres, which are too big for the smallest marine creatures to ingest. In the UK, nano ingredients must be flagged with the word "(nano)" in the ingredient list, so you can check.
This is the single most useful thing to know before you buy. There is no legal definition of "reef-safe", "reef-friendly" or "ocean-safe" in the UK, and no certification body checking the claim. A brand can print it on the front of the tube without meeting any standard at all. Some products labelled reef-safe still contain octocrylene or homosalate.
So ignore the front of the pack and turn it over. Look for a short ingredient list built around zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, and be wary of heavy fragrance, which is there for your nose rather than the sea. A water-resistant formula is also worth choosing: it stays on your skin instead of drifting off into the waves, which means you reapply less often and pollute less in the process.
None of this is a reason to skip protection. Skin cancer rates in the UK continue to rise, and the British sun is stronger than we give it credit for between April and September, cloud cover included. The trick is to need less sunscreen in the first place.
For faces and sensitive skin, a fragrance-free mineral formula is often kinder, though the white cast takes some getting used to. Patch test anything new on your inner arm first, particularly if you react to chemical filters.
A tube of sunscreen is a small environmental story in itself. Many are mixed plastic with a pump or cap that your council will not accept. A few practical habits help:
Sunscreen is one thread in a much larger pattern. Rinsing off before you swim reduces what you take into the water. Taking litter home — including the bits that are not yours — keeps plastic out of the food chain. Leaving rock pools and seabirds undisturbed, keeping dogs away from seals, and choosing refillable water bottles over single-use ones all make a difference at a crowded beach.
Buy a mineral sunscreen, read the label properly, use it generously, and use a little less of it by covering up and seeking shade. That is a realistic, useful contribution to the health of the water you love swimming in.
Honest Dune shares practical, down-to-earth guidance on uk coastal conservation and sustainable seaside living for readers across the UK.
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