On Wednesday 21 August 5 staff volunteers from Worthing Homes met to beach clean in liaison with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS). After a briefing and information on the background to beach clean principles and priorities an hour was spent picking up litter from a beach that looked clear and is cleaned by the Council every day. The team found nearly 4Kg of items which were recorded on a sheet provided by the MCS under various titles of Metal, Plastic, Wood etc. and then by item such as wooden lolly stick or piece of plastic rope under 2.5mm thick.
Mary Evans, senior development project manager, got involved as part of her role in the Worthing Homes Sustainability Group. Not only does the group get involved with marine conservation they also looks at other activities that impact on the environment such as office energy consumption, bike to work days, waste recycling and unnecessary printing (using too much paper).
As a group they wish to raise awareness of the problems litter poses to wildlife and to people using beaches, for instance they found bits of broken glass which could have been a danger to a small child or adult.
The volunteers very much enjoyed picking up bits of litter and looking at what the classification would be in terms of the MCS’s record sheet and hearing how long the bits of plastic would take to degrade (500 years!). They also found collecting the litter plus the recording of it very satisfying and were pleased to be contributing to clearing some of the mountains of plastic that are in our seas.
Amongst some of the strange things found were a piece of roofing asphalt, a pom-pom, a mobile phone, bracelet and a barrier guard from a construction site! .