New Toy Library on Weymouth Beach aims to cut single use plastic
The library will reuse and repurpose abandoned beach toys
Weymouth beach has opened a new toy library for visitors, to encourage beach goers to reuse old beach toys and reduce the number of plastic toys left behind on the beachfront.
The library opens on Wednesday 27th July and is being run by Litter Free Dorset, Weymouth Town Council and Weymouth and Portland Marine Litter project.
The initiative aims to cut down the amount of single use plastic found on Dorset’s beaches.
Emma Teasdale from Litter Free Dorset says this is a particular problem at peak tourist season:
“When the beach is busy and the weather’s great everyone goes and buys their buckets and spades or brings their own from home. Then at the end of the day it’s probably a lot to carry back to the car, and often those toys end up being left on the beach.
“Apart from the litter aspect, which is obvious, there’s the fact that those toys could be used by someone else.”
Approximately 100kg of plastic waste is found every month around Weymouth and Chesil Beach alone.
Teasdale says the Toy Library aims to tackle this.
“So we’re trying to kill two birds with one stone,” she says. “Firstly by reducing the amount of plastic that’s being bought and left on the beach, which then becomes a single-use item.
“But we’re also trying tos support families to be able to buy a little less and use those toys for free.”
However, Teasdale says that the intuitive would also kindly welcome any donations:
“People can also drop them into the toy library, that’s what we’re really hoping for is on your way out of the beach you’ll drop those toys that you don’t want to use anymore and other visitors can use them next time.
“So we’re just trying to create that culture of sharing resources.”