THREE beach cleans along the West Somerset coast across two weekends have been led by Plastic Free Communities.

The events were part of the Marine Conservations Society’s (MCS) Great British Beach Clean, the Severn Estuary Big Beach Clean, and Surfers Against Sewage Million Mile Clean.

The three beaches were in Minehead, led by Plastic Free Minehead, Dunster led by Plastic Free Exmoor, Watchet, where Plastic Free Watchet took the lead.

Poor weather for the Minehead event meant volunteer numbers were down on previous years.

However, the 11 people who went along cleaned large sections of the beach as well as footpaths leading to and from Minehead seafront.

Seven-and-a-half sacks of litter and debris were collected with a total weight of 21 kg, all of which was sorted and separated for recycling and disposal.

Items found included fast food packaging, plastic and glass bottles, food packaging, and tin cans.

A detailed brand audit was also undertaken at the same time, with the top 10 brands being found in order of highest first: McDonalds, Cadbury, Haribo, Monster, Morrisons, Coca-Cola, Walkers, Stella Artois, Greggs, and Hit Fusion (vape).

Some of the volunteers from the Minehead Beach Clean.
Some of the volunteers from the Minehead Beach Clean. (Plastic Free Communities)

The following Saturday, in warm and sunny conditions, more than 50 volunteers gathered at Watchet’s West Street Beach.

Members of Watchet Sea Scouts and Watchet Guides joined the event alongside older volunteers and families with younger children.

With a relatively large amount of seaweed on the beach, much of the time was spent separating fishing line, weights, and hooks from the seaweed on the tideline.

Discarded drinks cans, plastic bottles, and plastic cups formed much of the rest of the waste collected along with a number of larger metal items washed up by recent high tides.

Some of the group also undertook a wider litter pick of the town and coast path toward Splash Point and Helwell Bay before everybody gathered in The Sanctuary to sort the waste followed by tea and cake.

Extreme weather experienced by the West Somerset area on September 17 meant the beach clean planned for Dunster had to be cancelled at short notice.

However, it was noticed that a large block of polystyrene, approximately six feet in length had been washed up on the beach earlier in the month.

If left, it would have been broken down by the sea into much smaller pieces of marine litter, so two of the volunteers returned later in the weekto remove it.

At each of the beach cleans a 330 feet stretch of beach was surveyed in depth with all the debris being recorded and weighed, and the results submitted to a national database held by the MCS.

Some of the litter and debris collected at the Watchet Beach Clean.
Some of the litter and debris collected at the Watchet Beach Clean. (Plastic Free Communities)

The database provides an annual overview of the state of the coastline around the UK, with the information used to inform charities’ future conservation work and provide evidence for campaigns which would have a positive impact on the oceans.

In the past, such data was used to influence campaigns that led to the introduction of the plastic bag charge and the banning of microplastics in personal care products.

The Plastic Free Communities initiative was supported by the charity Sea Changers, which gave a grant for additional litter pickers to ensure larger numbers of volunteers were able to be involved and events running on the same day could both be well resourced.

A spokesperson for Plastic Free Communities said: “We are delighted to have been able to lead these Great British Clean events and to have been able to support the vital work of organisations such as the Marine Conservation Society and Surfers Against Sewage.

“While these events can seem like a drop in the ocean in terms of tackling plastic pollution, they are vital in helping us to understand the problem better and encouraging us all to reduce, re-use, and recycle in our everyday lives.

“Thank you to everybody who helped with and supported these events.

“Together, we made a real difference to our coastline and communities.”

The spokesperson also thanked the Beach Hotel, Minehead, Dunster Beach Holidays, Litter Free Coast and Sea – Somerset, Minehead and Coast Development Trust, Severn Estuary Partnership, Keep Britain Tidy, Exmoor National Park, for their support with the events.

More informatiom about Plastic Free Communities in West Somerset and future beach cleans can be found on the Facebook page here.