Litter Free Coast and Sea would like to thank over 70 volunteers, of all ages, who turned up to the first community beach clean held at Charmouth on Saturday 30th January.
Charmouth Beach Clean. Copyright: Litter Free Coast and Sea
There was a monumental amount of local support from Charmouth Primary, Scouts, Heritage Centre volunteers and many members of the public who all donned gloves and litter pickers to help tidy up East Charmouth beach.
The group filled nearly 100 bags of rubbish collected from the beach which included discarded fishing nets, a variety of disposable plastic items and even the bottom of a kayak.
The event was organised by the Litter Free Coast and Sea campaign and Charmouth Heritage Centre in response to the amount of beach litter brought onto the shore by the recent winter storms.
Tom Oliver, Litter Free Coast and Sea project assistant said: “After the overwhelming response from volunteers, we will be setting up a Litter Free Coast and Sea Beach Group so that everyone can get involved on a regular basis with helping to keep the beach clean and get support they need to run campaigns in their local area to reduce litter or improve bathing water quality safe for swimming”
Alison Ferris, Charmouth Heritage Centre warden said: “It is great that everyone has that community spirit here and wanted to get involved. Thanks go to our volunteers and junior rangers and also to Charmouth Primary for circulating the event and getting families involved. The kids were great as they knew the effects the rubbish has on our beaches but also had fun creating monsters using the little pickers and the gloves! We could not have asked more from everyone, they were simply great”
A ’Litter Free Coast and Sea’ week is being planned from the April 23rd until May 1st 2016. It will be coordinated by the Litter Free Coast and Sea campaign and the Dorset Coast Forum and will be a week of events and campaigns to raise awareness about beach and marine litter as well as bathing water quality issues. It will include the traditional Great Dorset Beach Clean which will now be included as part of the events and will kick off the ‘Litter Free Coast and Sea Week’ over the weekend of April 23rd and 24th.
If you have an event or an idea for an event that could be run during the Litter Free Coast and Sea week or would like to join the Charmouth Litter Free Coast and Sea Beach Group please contact [email protected] , call 01305 224731.
Twitter: @litterfreecoast
Facebook: @ litterfreecoastandsea
