Bognor beach team take on seafront trash

The team of trash challengers met at the bandstand along Bognor Regis promenade, working through the rubbish for two hours to clear the beach.

Kimberly Stewart, a representative from Surfers Against Sewage, said: “It was a hugely successful beach clean on Sunday morning with a total of 51 volunteers collecting 17 bin bags full of litter, a garden chair and metal piping.

“Millicent, a seven year old volunteer, found a lost shoe, a yellow plastic tag and a piece a plastic fake algae, and was the winner of the weirdest find award during the beach clean.

“Sam Storey, age 24, found a huge mound of ghost gear - fishing nets which if left in the ocean can cause major harm to wildlife.

“There were many single use plastic culprits from local cafes which can easily be changed to eco-friendly products, like black straws to paper straws, lots of ketchup packets which could be replaced with a ketchup bottle at the counter and plastic forks, again wooden alternatives. Sheiks, the club on the pier, had multiple plastic wrist bands strewn across the pebbles, again biodegradable alternatives are available. Making these changes within local businesses can have a massive impact to our beaches and we hope that these businesses will join the movement to protect our oceans.”

Finley Payne, a six year old volunteer, said: “I found a lot of cigarettes, I had to pick them up and my sister found a broken shoe.”

Alison and Sophie Gilbert, two other volunteers, said: “One cafe was sweeping all the bottle caps and cigarette butts under a bench - it’s disgusting.”

At a beach cleaning event held last month, one volunteer collected a 16 kg container of palm oil, whilst another found a very weathered Barbie - which the team called Zombie Barbie!.

Surfers Against Sewage are also driving a campaign to move us and small businesses away from single use plastics.

Find out more at www.sas.org.uk.