Plastic fantastic...Action Nan keeps litter at bay
A PENSIONER has earned the nickname Action Nan after clearing 52 beaches of plastic in a year.
Pat Smith, 71, cleaned sandy bays from Coverack on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall to Blackpool Sands in Devon.
Her crusade has won her millions of fans around the world. Videos Pat made of the beach cleans were seen by a staggering 38.5 million people.
Pat, who was often joined by volunteers, said she was angered by people’s thoughtlessness.
She said: “A lot of the rubbish I picked up was everyday items. These things are used by all of us and it is shocking to find them polluting our beautiful beaches.”
The passionate pensioner also launched campaign group Final Straw Cornwall in 2017 to fight against the use of plastic straws in her county.
The grandmother said she came up with the idea after asking herself which plastic item would people least mind doing without. She said: “I founded the Final
Straw to try to raise awareness of the catastrophic damage we are doing to our oceans from our casual consumption of single-use plastics.
“I feel I have a responsibility to my children and grandchildren to do something about it.
Proud
“I don’t know how much longer I have left on the planet but in the time I have got I have to do something.”
Pat added: “Cornwall has more or less become plastic free and I’m very proud of that.” Incredibly, Pat is also a leading light in the Plastic Free St Austell group which this month was named the latest plastic-free community in Cornwall by Surfers Against Sewage and news site Cornwall Live.
She is also one of the founding members of a litter-picking group in Charlestown, where she lives.
Her next big Final Straw campaign is to get rid of cigarette butts from our beaches, streets and roads.
Pat said: “I’ve still got this passion and drive in me. I can’t help it.”