A hot water bottle, a tyre, a pair of dentures, hundreds of cable ties, a weird waxy substance, tons of bottle tops, reams of fishing tackle, a considerable piece of fishing net, and a length of rubber tubing. Just a few items taken from six bulging bags of rubbish hauled off Ovingdean beach in just one hour, there’s no doubt The Deans Beach and Environment Volunteers is doing a great job.
Set up in January by local conservationists Atlanta Cook and Libby Darling, the group meets once a month to pick up litter from the Deans’ beaches – not just because it looks ugly, but because it’s dangerous too. Broken glass blights the groins and plastic is also a big issue. Swept out to sea, where it absorbs toxic chemicals, it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, but never completely rots away. It enters the food chain when it’s mistakenly eaten as food by smaller organisms, such as jellyfish, which go on to be eaten by bigger marine life. Larger sea animals including birds and turtles can also be injured or killed by becoming entangled in or by ingesting big plastics.
Marine litter has reportedly doubled in the last 15 years, the majority of it dumped by us the public, so it makes sense that we should pick it up – and what better way than this to do it? Lasting for around an hour, a Deans Beach & Environment Volunteers is full of feel-good factor and family friendly too, on sunny days it’s rounded off with a picnic. Completely safe, gloves and grabbers are provided for handling sharps.
The next clean up is Sunday 21st July on Saltdean Beach, meet @ 11am on the prom by the main beach.
Find out more at http://www.facebook.com/thedeansvolunteers and ‘like’ to receive news and dates for forthcoming events, or email thedeansvolunteers@gmail.com
Also here are dates for upcoming beach cleans, which all start at 11am. Book the dates in your calendar:
September 22nd @ Rottingdean Beaches
October 13th 2013 @ Ovingdean Beaches
November 3rd 3013 @ Saltdean Beaches
December 8th 2013 @ Rottingdean Beaches
January 12th 2014 @ Ovingdean Beaches
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