Come and help clean up the beach

Plastic polluting the seas is causing an environmental crisis '“ but Fleetwood can do its bit to help this weekend.
Love My Beach has organised an event in Fleetwood on Saturday.Love My Beach has organised an event in Fleetwood on Saturday.
Love My Beach has organised an event in Fleetwood on Saturday.

Plastic polluting the seas is causing an environmental crisis – but Fleetwood can do its bit to help this weekend.

Love My Beach is hosting its first big beach clean on Saturday in a bid to rid the coastline of harmful debris which is destroying marine life and making our beaches cleaner and safer to use.

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There are 10 volunteer groups arranging up to 25 beach clean events a month on the Fylde coast – and Fleetwood is the latest in the

line-up.

Last year, more than 8,000 bags of litter were collected by volunteers from the Fylde – that’s the same weight as 10 double decker buses.

Beach cleans are also a great way to get active in 2018, with 78 per cent of volunteers saying their physical activity had increased as a result.

Volunteer Sandra Pittman who has already helped at a recent Fylde beach clean said: “This is an enormously rewarding practical activity – it always makes me feel better for doing it.”

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And another volunteer added: “It has helped me a lot with my health and I feel happier too. It is effortless, sociable, worthwhile and non-competitive”.

Members say it is also extremely sociable and allows you to meet new people, creating a sense of friendship and increasing wellbeing.

Beach cleans may be in your interest if you’re an animal lover too.

Fylde Beach Care Officer Emma Whitlock said: “It’s important to keep our beaches clean and safe for residents, tourists and wildlife.

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“There have been several injuries to children caused from litter here on the Fylde coast, and the RSPCA receives 14 calls a day across the UK about animals affected by litter; it’s not hard to see it doesn’t belong on the beach.”

The Government recently committed the UK to eliminating all avoidable plastic waste by 2042 in an effort to reduce the amount of non-recyclable plastic reaching landfill and also to prevent it entering the sea.

Under the pledge, waste such as carrier bags, food packaging and disposable plastic straws would be abolished. During its recent Great British Beach Clean Up, the Marine Conservation Society found 718 pieces of litter for every 100 metre stretch of beach surveyed, and of this, rubbish from food and drink made up at least one fifth.

The Fleetwood group’s next clean up is on Saturday with additional events scheduled on February 17 and March 17. Volunteers can meet at the Lower Light House on the Esplanade in Fleetwood opposite the North Euston Hotel, at 10.30am.

For more information visit the LOVEmyBeach website.