We visit Croyde, our local beach, almost daily. Vikki works in the cafe at Downend Car Park and Keith has a coffee there while he checks the surf out every day. When we go on to the beach here, or any of our beaches, either for a surf or to collect sea glass, we always come back with some plastic or stuff that's been washed up or just left there. Just 2 minutes picking rubbish up may not seem a lot, but if everyone did this, the amount of litter on our beaches would be drastically reduced.
The rubbish ranges from ship's rope, fishing nets and lobster pots, plastic drums and equipment washed or dumped overboard, to discarded stuff left on the beach. The rubbish left on the beaches is mostly portable barbecues, broken belly boards and unwanted beach stuff. GoPro cameras, surfboard fins, diving masks, flippers and sometimes even bits of surfboards, among other items, are washed up on the beach. Helium, party balloons are also found after being carried miles on the offshore breezes.
Martin Dorey, a surfer from Bude, set up 2 Minute Beach Clean over 10 years ago, arranging beach cleaning events at locations all over the Westcountry. It is now a non-profit charity and supplies, with Government funding, grants and donations, over 800 beaches throughout the UK and Ireland with beach cleaning equipment.
htpp://www.beachclean.net
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