Group Clears 1,300 Kg of Waste from Beach in 2023

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Volunteers cleared more than 1,300kg (2,870lbs) of waste from Exmouth Beach in Devon in 2023, in what organisers have described as a record.

Volunteers from Plastic Free Exmouth (PFE) - who work in collaboration with Surfers Against Sewage - have been out each week, clearing plastic and other types of waste which have either been left on the beach or washed ashore.

Group leader Lucy Oakes-Ash said about half of what volunteers cleared had been left on the beach by people.

She said smoking and vaping paraphernalia were among the most frequently-found items.

Mrs Oakes-Ash said the weekly beach clean started in 2021, when more people started using the beach for socialising under Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

She said: "People started to use the beach as a social venue, which was really lovely. But, unfortunately, on the back of that, Exmouth got a bit of bad press because the beach was used and left in some horrendous states."

Mrs Oakes-Ash said the volunteers doing the weekly beach cleans were "amazing".

She said: "These are people who give up on average an hour of their time a week to clean the beach; we get anywhere between 15 and 40 people, coming from both ends of the beach."

In 2022, PFE said volunteers collected 1,000kg (2,200lbs) of waste.

Mrs Oakes-Ash said: "Single-use vapes, who invented those? They've made the plastic problem even worse."

Polystyrene, clothing, and pieces of sponge were also frequently found on the beach, she said.

Mrs Oakes-Ash said there were two categories of waste found: items which had washed ashore and items which had been left behind.

"The stuff that's left on the beach are things like bottles, tin cans, clothing, smoking paraphernalia, crisp packets, wrappers - that sort of thing.

"The stuff that gets washed up is fishing nets, fishing wire, bit pieces of stuff that's come off of cargo ships.

Courtesy: www.bbc.com