Dorset residents have come together to take part in local litter picking and beach cleaning activities, helping to spruce up streets, green spaces and beaches before the summer season.
Litter Free Dorset – Land, Coast and Sea’s annual Great Dorset Beach Clean between 2-10 April saw 14 beach cleans between Lyme Regis and Christchurch, hosted by local organisations and community groups.
More than 250 volunteers took part in the clean-ups, collecting 100 bags of rubbish, including fishing rope, cigarette butts and plastic bottles – plus slightly unusual objects including wellie boots, balloons and oil drums.
Alongside the Great Dorset Beach Clean, Keep Britain Tidy’s UK-wide Great British Spring Clean and Great Big School Clean initiatives took place between 25 March-10 April. In Dorset, individuals, community groups, schools and local councils pledged to pick up as much litter as possible.
Litter Free West Dorset and CUDS Clean Up Dorset Squad arranged a West Dorset litter pick over 1-2 April, supported by Litter Free Dorset and the Preventing Plastic Pollution project, and hundreds of residents grab litter pickers and get involved with tidying up their local areas.
Teams were organised across the West Dorset area and it was estimated 150-plus bags of litter were cleared from West Dorset lanes, as well as significant quantities of larger items.
Over time, plastics break up into lots of smaller pieces, harder to remove from the environment. Larger littered items can entrap and entangle marine life and on-land wildlife, and smaller pieces can be easily ingested, also causing harm.
Litter Free Dorset is calling on residents and visitors to take their litter home or use the bin when out and about at the coast or in the countryside this summer.
Anyone interested in getting involved with litter picking and beach cleaning activities near them should check out the Litter Free Dorset website for details of active community groups www.litterfreedorset.co.uk/get-involved/join-a-group-near-you.
To stay updated with Litter Free Dorset’s latest campaigns and projects, check out their social media pages: Facebook @LitterFreeDorset; Instagram @litterfreedorset; Twitter @LitterFreeDorset.