I surfed at Harlyn Bay last week, whilst not my favourite beach(like the shampoo I surf and go), I looked across the beach and was stunned by the amount of rubbish that people had left behind. We aren’t talking a couple of blown away crisp packets or the odd curly wurly wrapper, I am talking bin bags worth of refuse. What goes through peoples heads, maybe I was brought up in a different environment where my parents would have strung me up for dropping a wrapper and not picking it up.
There used to be a service that dragged the beach everyday with a tractor and picked up the rubbish. This damaged the sand so it stopped, understandably. There aren’t any beach cleaners these days or if there are I haven’t seen one and they would need a team to deal with it. The hedgerows are equally as bad! Our Council Tax pays to have this removed when the money could be better spent on many other things.
Whats the solution? Community groups cleaning the beaches, i would be up for it. On the spot fines, but who would deliver them. Its education at the end of the day, if we lead by example then we can get people to change their ways maybe. I know that what my parents installed in me at a very young age is still there and I have carried that on with mine. My son even picked up someone else’s rubbish recently and binned it. What I don’t want to see is my early morning surf ruined by tip toeing through the cans and plastic(and dog mess, although thats lots better). I am interested to hear what people think. @_jasonwilliams #cleanupcornwall