Code of Conduct
Saltair, Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA | Photo by Leo Kenney
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Ethical Code for Responsible Sand Collecting
Version: 1.1
Proposed for adoption by: ISCS – International Sand Collector Society
Effective date: October 1, 2026
Review date: September 29, 2026
License: Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0), available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. The license applies to the text of this document only. ISCS names, logos, badges, membership cards and verification marks are excluded unless expressly stated otherwise.
SAND COLLECTING:
KNOWLEDGE, RESPONSIBILITY, AND RESPECT
Sand is an extremely widespread natural material, occurring in coastal, fluvial, lacustrine, desert, glacial, volcanic, and shallow-marine environments, as well as in quarries, excavations, and many other geological contexts.
Sand and gravel are also among the world’s most heavily extracted natural materials, and their large-scale exploitation has raised serious concerns about sediment depletion, local scarcity, and environmental damage.
Yet sand is neither uniform nor entirely interchangeable. Deposits differ in mineral and biological composition, grain size and shape, geological origin, colour, texture, and other distinctive characteristics. A representative sample can be observed, documented, analysed, and compared with others, revealing information about its composition, origin, environmental context, and formative processes. Together, samples from different places represent, in miniature, the diversity of the natural world. This is at the heart of sand collecting.
Responsible sand collecting is fundamentally different in purpose, method, and scale, involving only minimal, non-commercial samples for educational, documentary, comparative, cultural, artistic or scientific purposes.
Documenting and comparing this diversity requires –in fact- neither large quantities of sand nor indiscriminate collection. Responsible sand collecting therefore involves taking small, representative quantities of naturally loose material, proportionate to the purpose and to the legal, environmental, and cultural characteristics of the site.
This Code establishes shared ethical standards and responsible field practices for the limited, documented, low-impact, and non-commercial collection of sand by ISCS members. It is based on legality, safety, minimal impact, environmental and cultural sensitivity, respect for landowners, custodians, local communities, and public authorities, accurate documentation, and accountability.
Through consistent conduct, collectors can promote knowledge and appreciation of natural diversity while demonstrating an organized, transparent, and responsible approach.
By adhering to this Code, collectors commit themselves to respecting the places and communities from which samples originate and to ensuring that their activities remain lawful, proportionate, carefully documented, and consistent with the protection of natural and cultural values.
1. PURPOSE AND SCOPE
1.1 Identity and Purpose
The International Sand Collectors Society (ISCS) is an international association dedicated to the knowledge, study, documentation, and appreciation of sand and sedimentary environments, and to the promotion of responsible sand collecting. Drawing on the expertise, experience, and cooperation of its members and partner organizations, ISCS advances a scientific, educational, cultural, and ethical approach.
This Code establishes shared ethical and practical standards for the limited, non-commercial collection of representative sand samples for scientific, educational, documentary, comparative, cultural, artistic or personal study purposes. Such collection must be lawful, safe, proportionate, transparent, accurately documented, minimal in impact, and consistent with the long-term preservation of sites and their sediments.
1.2 Scope and applicability
The Code applies to ISCS members and focuses on the principal stages of the direct collection of sand in the field, including:
preliminary site and legal verification;
permission and access requirements;
field conduct and sample collection.
It applies only to small-scale, low-impact, and non-commercial collecting. Commercial extraction, large-scale removal conducted under dedicated protocols, and activities involving protected materials fall outside the scope of this Code.
Responsible sand collecting, however, extends beyond field collection and includes other activities and responsibilities that help define what it means to be a responsible sand collector, including:
documentation, labelling, storage, and traceability;
transport, exchange, donation, display, and educational use; and
responsible site stewardship and reporting.
1.3 Status and limitations
This Code is a voluntary ethical and operational standard. It is not a law, permit, license, statutory certification, or official authorization.
ISCS membership, adherence to the Code, training, badges, certificates, or identification tools do not confer any right to enter a site or collect natural material.
Applicable laws, site regulations, official instructions, cultural protocols, and the decisions of landowners, custodians, local communities, and competent authorities always take precedence.
Where legality, permission, site status, or potential impact is uncertain, collection must not proceed until the situation has been adequately clarified.
1.4 Samples and sustainable quantities
For the purposes of this Code, a sample is a small, representative quantity of sand or other naturally loose sediment collected as a record of a location, geological context, or sedimentary environment.
Responsible collecting must be consistent with the long-term preservation of the site and its sediments. It must not materially diminish their integrity, character, representativeness or availability, or compromise the ability of future generations to observe, study, document and appreciate them.
A responsible, proportionate and sustainable quantity is the smallest amount reasonably sufficient for a legitimate and documented purpose, such as observation, documentation, comparison, education, non-commercial documentary exchange supporting educational or scientific objectives, research, or analysis.
No single quantity is sustainable or appropriate for every location. The quantity must be determined on a site-specific basis and be proportionate to the documented purpose, taking into account:
the abundance and distribution of the material;
the environmental, scientific, and cultural sensitivity of the site;
the site’s capacity to tolerate removal;
the proposed collection method;
existing legal or management restrictions; and
the actual or reasonably foreseeable cumulative effects of collecting.
Where suitable material is abundant, widely distributed, naturally replenished, and located in a legally accessible and non-sensitive setting (green condition), the collection of a small representative quantity may normally be compatible with this Code, provided that all applicable conditions are respected.
Where the material is limited, localized, potentially sensitive, or subject to uncertainty (amber condition), the collector must carry out a more careful and proportionate assessment. Where lawful access and collection have been established and the expected impact is negligible, a reduced and carefully documented sample may be collected. Additional precautions, a less intrusive method, a different collection point, or prior consultation with the landowner, site manager, or competent authority may be appropriate.
In presence of an explicit prohibition, the site or material is highly sensitive, or the potential impact cannot be reduced to an acceptable level (red condition), the collector refrains from collecting samples. Collection may proceed only where an explicit, activity-specific authorization has been obtained from the competent authority or lawful custodian and all stated limits and conditions are respected.
2. CORE COMMITMENTS
A collector adhering to this Code accepts the following commitments.
2.1 Non-commercial purpose
Collection is undertaken for a defined personal, educational, scientific, documentary, comparative, artistic, or cultural purpose.
ISCS recognizes that sand may have legitimate commercial and industrial uses. However, collection under this Code is not undertaken for commercial supply, speculative resale, financial gain, industrial use, bulk accumulation, or large-scale decorative or landscaping purposes.
Samples are regarded primarily as documented records and objects of knowledge, education, comparison, or art, rather than as commodities or undifferentiated material.
2.2 Small and representative quantities
Collectors take only the smallest quantity reasonably sufficient for the intended purpose. This may include a proportionate amount for non-commercial exchange, teaching kits, educational outreach, or appropriate documentation of material that would otherwise be lawfully removed, covered, dispersed, or lost.
The objective is to obtain a representative sample, not to remove a substantial part of a deposit. The quantity taken must reflect the abundance, characteristics, and sensitivity of the site.
Bulk removal, repeated harvesting, unnecessary duplication, and speculative accumulation are inconsistent with this Code.
2.3 Transparency and permission
Collectors communicate openly and accurately about the nature, purpose, and limited scale of their activities when dealing with landowners, site managers, competent authorities, or other relevant persons.
They verify applicable access and collection conditions and seek clarification or permission where required. Where collection is restricted but a lawful exception is available, collectors may request the appropriate authorisation, exemption, or derogation.
The absence of a clearly displayed prohibition does not, by itself, establish that collection is permitted. Equally, this Code does not create a general requirement to request permission where access and limited collection are already lawfully allowed.
2.4 Minimal impact
Collectors use proportionate, low-impact methods and prefer naturally loose surface material where it provides an adequate sample.
They avoid unnecessary disturbance, take reasonable precautions against contamination and the transfer of material or organisms between sites, and leave each location clean, safe, and without avoidable visible alteration.
Detailed requirements for field conduct are set out in Chapter 3.
2.5 Respect for natural and cultural values
Collectors exercise particular care in fragile habitats, important geological features, restoration areas, eroding environments, and places affected by disturbance, intensive visitation, or repeated collecting. The characteristics and sensitivity of each site determine the appropriate level of care.
Private property, protected or managed areas, archaeological, historical, sacred, memorial, or culturally significant places, Indigenous or traditional lands, and legitimate local or custodial requirements must be respected.
Archaeological objects, human remains, cultural objects, and material forming part of an archaeological or sacred context must not be disturbed or removed under this Code.
Potentially significant geological, palaeontological, archaeological, ecological, or cultural objects and features should be left undisturbed and, where appropriate, reported to the relevant landowner, site manager, or competent authority. Precise location information should not be publicly disclosed where doing so could expose a site to damage or unauthorized removal.
2.6 Safety
No sample justifies an unreasonable risk to the collector, other people, wildlife, property or the environment.
Collectors take account of warning signs, barriers, weather, tides, unstable ground, traffic, machinery and other foreseeable hazards. They stop collecting if unexpected legal, environmental, cultural or safety concerns arise.
2.7 Accurate documentation
Collectors record sufficient information to identify the origin and context of a sample where reasonably possible, including:
country and location;
date of collection;
collecting context;
collector’s name or identifying number;
any relevant permission or authorization reference.
Collectors do not deliberately misrepresent a sample’s origin, nature, collecting circumstances, legal status or associated permission.
Where precise location information could expose a sensitive habitat, geological feature, archaeological context or culturally significant place to harm, collectors record the information accurately but may restrict, generalize or withhold it in public communications or from persons who do not require access to it.
This does not affect any disclosure legally required by a competent authority or other authorized recipient.
3. RESPONSIBLE FIELD CONDUCT
During collection, collectors act carefully and use methods proportionate to the location, the purpose of the sample and the small quantity required.
Where relevant to the site, collectors:
take only a small, representative quantity;
prefer naturally loose surface material where it provides an adequate sample;
use the least intrusive practical method;
avoid unnecessary digging, scraping or disturbance of sedimentary layers;
avoid damage to vegetation, habitats, geological structures and cultural features;
avoid disturbing wildlife, nesting or spawning areas, root systems and restoration work;
take reasonable precautions against contaminating water, soil or collecting sites, or transferring sediment, organisms, seeds or pollutants between locations;
keep paths, access points, drainage channels and public spaces safe and unobstructed;
avoid interfering with research, conservation, cultural practices, site management or the lawful activities of others;
remove personal waste and temporary materials;
do not damage or interfere with fences, gates, signs, barriers, buildings, monitoring equipment or other site infrastructure, and leave gates and access controls as found;
leave the site clean, safe and without unnecessary visible disturbance.
Small hand-held tools may be used only where their use is lawful, safe, proportionate and compatible with minimal-impact collection. Mechanized, powered or bulk-extraction equipment is not appropriate for ordinary collection under this Code.
Separately authorized scientific, educational or institutional work may use other methods only where expressly permitted and governed by the relevant authorization.
Collectors comply with any applicable permission conditions and with lawful instructions given by a landowner, site manager or competent authority.
The appropriate method may vary according to the characteristics and sensitivity of the site.
In developing this Code, ISCS has taken account of established principles of responsible field conduct promoted within the mineralogical collecting community, including those of the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies, while adapting them to the specific characteristics of limited, non-commercial sand collection.