Burnham-On-Sea, Berrow and Brean have a new Coastal Community Officer who is set to launch several new initiatives to reduce marine and beach litter and protect bathing water quality along our coastline.
Tanya Cox has joined the Litter Free Coasts & Seas Somerset project, taking on the job of Somerset Coastal Community Officer and replacing Harriet Yates-Smith who has moved to another role.
Tanya, who has a background in marine conservation and oceanography, has been actively tackling plastic pollution for the past six years.
“It’s a really exciting time of year as we enter the planning stage for the various campaigns that we hope to run this year and I’m always keen to hear from local residents and volunteers who would like to get involved,” she told Burnham-On-Sea.com.
“The bathing water season here runs from May to September and we have a busy summer lined up with various campaigns planned.”
“We will be relaunching the very successful ‘Don’t feed the locals’ campaign which targets seagulls because bird and animal faeces can strongly affect bathing water quality.”
“We will also be promoting responsible dog ownership for the same reasons with the message ‘Pick Up Your Poop’. Nobody wants to find dog mess on the beach or in the water, yet it’s frequently spotted along our coastline.”
“The Friends of Burnham beach will be continuing their excellent work to keep the coastline litter free – an excellent way to highlight the scale of the problem to local residents and to encourage small but significant changes in everyday lives to reduce the amount of waste we produce.”
“This monthly clean-up will complement the ‘#2minutebeachclean’ stations that will be in place along the coastline over the summer.”
She added: “We will also be launching an all-new Business Award Scheme to support local businesses to put simple, low-cost measures in place that will reduce their environmental footprints. Focusing on sewage, waste and drainage issues, we will be looking at how Fats, Oils and Greases (FOGs) are handled; preventing unflushables from being flushed and eliminating single use plastics and avoidable packaging wherever possible.”
Litter Free Coasts & Seas Somerset is a community-led campaign which aims to reduce marine and beach litter and protect bathing water quality in Somerset by empowering individuals, local communities and local businesses to make informed decisions that ultimately reduce environmental impact.
Tanya adds: “In the meantime, I hope to see you all on Saturday for the next Friends of Burnham Beach clean-up which takes place this Saturday at 10am, starting at the Sailling Club.”
Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge Town Council recently supported a campaign to try and make Burnham-On-Sea a plastic-free coastline as part of push to further help to improve bathing water quality.
Earlier this week, Burnham-On-Sea.com featured a Burnham-On-Sea dog owner’s plea – ‘stop fouling our beaches’ amid concern about dog fouling.
Further details about Tanya’s various activities throug the year are featured on social media via Litter Free Somerset and here.
Pictured: Tanya Cox has become Burnham-On-Sea’s new Coastal Community Officer; above – at a recent beach clean with MP James Heappey and Cllr Peter Clayton
