On Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 October we joined the Surfers Against Sewage team for the Autumn Beach Clean Series to collect litter and washed up rubbish at  Whitehaven’s North Shore and St Bees Beach.

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The weather was kind on both days and over 30 volunteers gave up their weekend afternoons to come along and join in.  As always the amount of plastic pollution was astounding.  We spent two hours at each beach and there were so many cotton bud sticks, strings from balloon releases, straws, single use plastic bottles and sanitary applicators that we gave up counting and just kept on collecting.  In St Bees alone we collected and removed 22 bags of litter.  Fast food packaging, wet wipes, cutlery and rope were also, unfortunately, in abundance high up on the tide line having been washed up during recent storms.

Much of this waste could be avoided with a little bit of though or planning.  Some simple (and easy) tips are:

• Take a reusable cup to the coffee shop
• Recycle cans and bottles – don’t chuck them on the ground or in the bin
• Most importantly remember that only the three P’s should go down the toilet – pee, poo and paper!

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