Beach cleaners say cigarette butts the biggest problem
DOZENS of volunteers grabbed litter pickers and buckets and took to the beach at Vazon for the annual Clean Earth Trust and Fairtrade Guernsey beach clean.
The clean-up was part of Great Big Green Week, which runs from 24 September to 2 October and is described as Britain’s biggest celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature.
As well as having the chance to clean up one of the island’s beaches, volunteers might also have been tempted along by the offer of free refreshments, including cakes baked with Fairtrade ingredients.
Several Fairtrade Steering Group members were among the volunteers, including Ann Battye.
Carrying a bucket full of crisp packets and other discarded plastic, Mrs Battye wondered if a lot of the lighter rubbish had blown onto the beach from the car park above.
Anna Bowditch, Chris Cuss and Mary Avery had found an old belly board and a crate and to make life easier Mrs Cuss was towing the board with the crate on it.
‘You don’t know what you’ll find,’ she said. ‘We found a dead bird over there and we’re going to report it.’
Mrs Avery said: ‘It’s nice to give something back. I live on the beach in the summer.’
Overseeing the collection was Fern Nicholson and Olivia Bennett, from the Clean Earth Trust.
While plastics are always a problem, they both said that cigarette butts continue to be a major headache. ‘100% they are the biggest pollutant,’ said Miss Nicholson, adding that they had started to find discarded vape products now, too.
. The Clean Earth Trust holds a weekly beach clean and is in Herm on 29 October. Go to https://bit.ly/3r7suuR for information.
