YOUNGSTER PICKS UP 67 USED SPARKLERS FROM BEACH...IN 10 MINUTES!
A GIRL picked up 67 sparklers off Porthcawl beach in 10 minutes after the town’s fireworks display on Bonfire Night.
Eleven-year-old Mia Ward, a Year Six pupil at Newtown Primary School, found nearly 70 sparklers during a walk on the beach on Wednesday last week.
The annual fireworks display at the Hi-Tide Inn in Porthcawl was cancelled on Saturday, November 2 due to the bad weather, rescheduling it for Tuesday evening last week.
Mia – a nature lover who wants to be a marine biologist – said she counted the sparklers before putting them in the bin.
She said: “I was quite angry because I like helping the environment.
“People leaving rubbish on the beach is not OK – they should take the rubbish home with them.
“All of it will end up in the sea if not when the tide comes in. We need to look after our environment, it is our responsibility.”
Mia, who is also vegan, said they only cleaned a small part of the beach and were going to go back there again.
Her mum Katie said they went to the fireworks display with friends and neighbours, adding they go every year.
Ms Ward said it was a brilliant display but that it was a shame people were leaving such a mess behind. The mum-of-three continued: “We have a rule that we always pick up three pieces of litter each, every time we go to the beach.
“I was absolutely disgusted, angry and confused as to why people continue to trash the beach when there is so much awareness about the harm it does to the environment.
“Mia was determined to get them all but this was 10 minutes and a very small area of the beach – it would have taken hours [to pick up all of them].
“People had even left chairs on the beach.”
Hi-Tide Inn general manager David Jones said they had five staff cleaning up the site and the beach, adding they encourage people to take their rubbish home with them.
“It is not a shock but it is a terrible shame,” Mr Jones added. “It is a free firework display which we have been doing for nearly 45 years. We do generally have this situation – we also have it through the summer and it cost us a lot of money.”