Volunteers from the National Trust will be holding a mass beach clean at Brean later this month.
The trust’s staff and volunteers are conducting litter clean-ups at 27 beaches across the South West during April, including next to Brean Down on Wednesday 13th April from 9.30am-3pm.
The trust says the tide of litter appears to be on the increase on beaches in the west, with the amount of litter increasing 146% since 1994.
It says that not only can litter be a health hazard and put off tourists, but it is estimated that over 100,000 marine animals die every year from entanglement or ingestion of plastics.
Phil Dyke, National Trust Coast and Marine Adviser based in the South West, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “This is the first major beach clean of the season and certainly one of the largest. Hundreds of people give up their time to help us with this process.”
“It’s essential we wait until this time as generally the worst of the winter storms are over and to ensure our beaches are looking their best in time for our Easter visitors.”
“This annual event has become incredibly popular with local people and with 27 different beach cleans to undertake we could not manage it without their support.”
All the teams involved will be reporting on the volume of rubbish found on their beaches, and documenting the stranger or more surprising items found. This is the fourth annual National Trust beach clean.
