Western Mail

Volunteers out in force to clear beach of plastic

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VOLUNTEERS cleared debris from one of Wales’ best-known beaches as WalesOnlin­e held the second beach clean of its Wales Against Plastics campaign.

WalesOnlin­e and Keep Wales Tidy staff were joined by 25 volunteers on a wet and windy day to clean up Swansea Bay beach.

And it was all aimed at raising awareness about the harm being done to our natural world by our over-reliance on plastics.

Phil Budd, from Keep Wales Tidy, said the problem stems from people not thinking about what they flush down the toilet.

He said: “I’ve seen wet wipes, female hygiene products and all sorts of things that shouldn’t be there in the first place.”

This sewage then gets flushed into the sea, ending up on beaches and impacting on the local wildlife.

The volunteers found wet wipes aplenty along with fishing debris, broken bits of plastic and bottletops.

The focus was on educating those involved on how plastic ends up on the beaches and many were indignant by what they picked up.

“It’s all this plastic – why do we need plastic?” asked volunteer Marion from Swansea.

“Go back to glass. We’re of an age where there were glass bottles and we coped.”

Emma Mears, from the Rhondda, said: “I’ve learnt so much about recycling that I didn’t know before. Like the difference between soft and hard plastic.

“It made me realise that I’d been recycling wrong and it’s been a great learning curve. I’ll definitely take what I’ve learnt home with me today.”

Wales Against Plastics will run until December.

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