The Dorset Coast Forum and Jurassic Coast World Heritage team have been working together to tackle the problem of litter on our beaches and in the sea as part of the Litter Free Coast and Sea project.
While beach cleans have a very important role to play, the newly formed Marine Litter Group, which also includes representatives from Natural England, the Green Blue, the Exe Estuary Partnership, Dorset Wildlife Trust and Dorset Countryside, have agreed to prioritise communicating the issue to the general public through some hard hitting messages. A key task within this is to raise awareness about the effects of marine and beach litter and to try to persuade people that dropping or leaving litter behind is just not cool and can cause serious long term damage to our environment.
The group have succeeded in securing a pot of money from Dorset AONB’s Sustainable Development Fund and the Crown Estate, and hope to add to this with funding from East Devon AONB’s Sustainable Development Fund. The money will help kick start a campaign to raise awareness in time for the 2012 Games and with the aim of generating a long term legacy of people who ‘think before they drop’.
Read more about Marine Litter
Sally King, World Heritage Site Visitor Manager.
