Weymouth’s award-winning beach left covered in litter
Six sacks of litter and 215 cans were left on Weymouth Beach over the weekend
Weymouth Beach was left covered in litter over the weekend as thousands flocked to the seaside for the hot weather.
Environmentalists spent two hours clearing rubbish from Weymouth’s award-winning beach which was left in “one of the worst states” they had ever seen.
Dave Taylor of Weymouth and Portland Marine Litter Project told us: “When I got to the beach, it was just disgusting. There were bags of rubbish just left on the beach, cans scattered everywhere and glass bottles wedged in the sand.
“The mentality of lots of people is that they pay a lot for car parking, they pay their council tax, so they think they can do whatever they want.”
Six sacks of litter, 215 cans, 105 plastic bottles, a shedload of plastic toys, a few inflatable Lilos and even three used nappies were retrieved.
Mr Taylor says attitudes towards littering have gotten worse in the county: “People don't take responsibility and instead they expect someone else to clean up after them.
“Big groups of people often leave things behind and it just seems to be socially acceptable to leave heaps of litter on the beach.”
The Weymouth and Portland Marine Litter Project volunteers said it was "sad" to see birds pecking at plastics and rummaging through rubbish during their clean-up operation.
The organisation's main objective is to create community-based projects aimed at reducing the pollution from litter in our seas and on our beaches.
“We clean the beach to protect the environment,” Mr Taylor said as he urged people to pick up after themselves. “The best thing to do is take all your litter home and put things like cans and bottles in your household recycling but unfortunately people just don't do things like that.”