Marine Conservation Society: Cleaner beaches

This winter I've noticed more an more junk and trash on my local North Sea facing beaches, both domestic and industrial waste, from plastics, to nets, to metal containers and its an awful thing to witness. So thank goodness for organisations such as the Marine Conservation society dedicated to protecting our island's sea waters and coastline. Heres some info on the recent beach cleans initiated by the MCS:

"MCS Beachwatch Big Weekend is the biggest volunteer beach clean up in the UK. Over the weekend of the 19th and 20th of September 2009, 397 beaches were cleaned and 4,665 people went to their local beach to make a big difference.

What sort of rubbish is on our beaches?

Well, it’s mostly PLASTIC, PLASTIC and more PLASTIC. The most common items of litter found were small plastic pieces and 64% of all the rubbish was made of plastic. Worryingly, plastic litter has increased by an enormous 121% since Beachwatch started in 1994.

The problem with plastic is that it never really goes away. It breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces but never disappears. In some parts of the ocean there are more plastic fragments in seawater than there are plankton."

To learn more and support the MCS click on their website:

http://www.mcsuk.org/