Plastic: We’ll fight it on the beaches!
WHETHER you’re heading out of town or staying home at the weekend, you can join the Daily Mail’s Plastic Pick Up campaign on May 11-13 and help push back the tide of litter swamping our streets and countryside. Here, just a few of the thousands of volunteers signing up to help rid our beaches of plastic tell their stories.
CHANGE IS COMING AND WE’RE DOING OUR BIT!
Burry Port, near Swansea, Wales CIvIl servant Selina Medwell, 65, is co- ordinating a beach clean at Burry Port, near Swansea, on Friday 11th.
She says: ‘It is going to be tricky, because the plastic tends to be in tiny pieces and tangled up with the debris on the beach.
‘This is a beautiful area, but badly in need of a clean-up. Most of us are of pensionable age and one of the main aims is to try to get younger members to join.
‘I get so offended by litter. It is unsightly, a sign of irresponsibility and it is also harmful to the planet. The only way that we are ever going to change attitudes towards littering is with campaigns such as the Mail’s brilliant Great Plastic Pick Up.’
She adds: ‘Change is on the way — it’s going to take time, but it is happening!’
THIS EVENT IS FANTASTIC — I’M SO EXCITED
Meon beach, Fareham, near Southampton PO14 4HJ CarOlIne Mannell, 47, works on the customer service desk at her local Tesco.
She says: ‘Knowing how Tesco is working to improve plastic bag use and waste, I felt I needed to do something with a group of friends. The two beaches stretch about five miles apart and I regularly dog walk with pals between them. It upsets me to see so much rubbish washed up or left by visitors on warmer days, so I always pick up a few bits each time I’m out.
‘ This event is fantastic and everyone I have spoken to about helping in the clean-up campaign is really pleased to be involved.
‘The local council is dropping all the equipment at my home the day before the event and they have also arranged to take away the rubbish we collect. I’m really excited about it!’
IT’LL TAKE STUDENTS’ MINDS OFF EXAMS
Whitley Bay, Northumberland NE26 4JS GaBrIelle lOnG, 59, is assistant head teacher at Seaton Sluice Middle School in whitley Bay. She has organised a pick up on Friday 11th, in the hope of offering her Year Six students a little light relief from their SaTs exams — at the same time as providing an invaluable lesson on the importance of recycling.
She will be taking a group of 50 students aged 10 to 11 to clean up a picturesque beach in whitley Bay, northumberland. She says: ‘ The children are all terribly excited. It’s good to have something nice for them to do to take their minds off SaTs.’
The school has also used this as an opportunity to teach pupils about the devastating effects of plastic waste on the nearby sea life. Ms long says she hopes the day will hammer home the real damage done by Britain’s throwaway culture and give the youngsters ‘lasting life skills’. ‘It should make them think twice about littering. There is a beautiful harbour and the beach looks immaculate, until you look closer.’
TACKLING BOTTLES AND WRAPPERS
Sutton-on-Sea Beach, Lincolnshire LN12 2JD Helen BeCKeTT wIlSOn, 45, has already completed her Great Plastic Pick Up — a family affair involving her mother-in-law Susan, 80, husband Peter wilson, 40, and their son, nathan Beckett, 16.
She says: ‘we wanted to get involved because it is a subject that means a lot to my son. He has illustrated a children’s picture book on the theme of plastic pollution called Peter, Pog and The Pencil.’
The family live in nottingham-shire, but decided to hold their pick up at Sutton-on-Sea, on the lincolnshire coast, when they were staying for the weekend.
‘On first sight, the beach looked fairly clean and clear,’ says Helen. ‘But it wasn’t long before we found plastic bottles and wrappers, bits of rubber and cans and bottles tangled up in the grassy patches growing in the sand.’
WARMING UP BY PICKING UP PLASTIC
Tregonhawke Beach, Whitsand Bay, Cornwall PL11 3AZ Helen MIlFOrd is a teacher at Torpoint Community College and is running a girls’ fitness club pick up as part of the Great Plastic Pick Up. She says: ‘as a college, we use whitsand beach for surfing and fitness lessons. To our students and their families, it is a special place to walk and enjoy.
‘It’s a beautiful area that has sadly seen the drastic effect of plastics in the sea and on the beach over the past few years but, this year, it is really noticeable.
‘The club is enthusiastic and will use the pick up as a warm-up before a beach training session.’