UK's most littered beaches: We collected over 10,000 items of rubbish after UK heatwave

Volunteers are urging beach-goers to dispose of their rubbish properly, after more than 10,000 items were left behind during one of the hottest weekends of the year.

In a shocking video, litter-pickers reveal that 43 bags of trash - including 10 that were ‘too heavy to carry off the beach’ - were collected, during a walk along St Anne’s beach.

Nappies left on beach

Buried nappies, wipes, carrier bags and unwanted bucket and spades are just some of the discarded items found by the volunteers.

But, as well as making the beach look untidy, Fylde Council warn visitors, in the clip above, that rubbish can be harmful to birds, sand lizards and other creatures living by the sea.

Litter harmful to seabirds

Tom Dibb, area conservation ranger for Fylde Borough Council, explains: “ You see quite a few dead seabirds often seabirds will feed plastic to their young and not realize that it's damaging. We have sand lizards on the dunes which are quite a rare species there's stories of them growing into bottles or cans, and getting stuck and dying.”

As the main summer school holiday season gets underway, Fylde Council has created an eye-catching campaign to encourage everyone to dispose of their litter responsibly - titled ‘Wish You Weren’t Here’.

Throw your rubbish away

Councillor Michelle Morris, Lead Member for Customer and Operational Services, said: “Fylde is a beautiful place to live, work and visit - and, of course, we want it to stay that way. I was extremely disappointed to see how much litter was left over the weekend - if the litter was just left on the beach, people would not want to come and visit Fylde. Everyone has a real role to play in helping dispose of litter responsibly.”

This summer, Fylde Council’s refuse teams will be working hard to keep the borough looking clean and tidy. Super sized litter bins are positioned in popular areas and they are emptied on a daily basis throughout the school summer holidays. Fylde's local litter picking group led by iHope organises beach cleans and litter picks in St Annes every evening from 7pm-8pm and every Saturday morning at 10.30am starting at St Annes Pier during the school summer holidays. During weekends of good weather, volunteer litter pickers will often collect throughout the day. A single litter picker can fill one to two bags of litter in an hour.To find out more about litter volunteering opportunities, visit Fylde Council’s website.

Watch the video above.