‘We need to crack down on littering on beaches’

Rubbish is often found along our coastline and organisations, such as the Southend Beach Care Group, have arranged clean-ups in order to rid the sand of waste.

Despite their best efforts, litter is back on the beach within moments and the Echo’s Keep Our Beaches Clean campaign has received backing from a number of businesses.

Adrian Latham, the leader of Fifth Southchurch Scout Group, took 25 young beavers, cubs, scouts and their families to help clean Southend Beach.

And the 47-year-old admitted the amount of rubbish having to be picked up was an eye-opener for the children.

Mr Latham, of Hogarth Drive, Shoebury, said: “We picked up more than five-and-a-half kilos of rubbish along the beach between Castle Public House and the Travelodge.

“The clean-up was run by the Marine Conservation Society, but we wanted to help as well.

“I would say 15 or 20 kilos was picked up by everyone combined.

“The children enjoyed it and I think the experience opened their eyes as to how serious pollution and littering is.

“The amount of rubbish on the beach surprised them and they picked up hundreds of plastic sticks from cotton buds.

“They realised that when we flush rubbish away, it goes into the sea but can then come back onto the beach, so it was a good learning experience for them as well.”

Fining those found littering is seen by many as an easy way to combat against the amount of rubbish being left on our beaches.

But Poppy Strike, a waitress at fish and tapas restaurant Billy Hundreds, Eastern Esplanade, Southend, believes that fining litterers is not the best way to solve the problem.

Poppy, 21, said: “If they brought in fines, most people would still get away with it.

“It would be difficult to catch those doing it because you would constantly need people patrolling the beaches.

“I think a few more bins along the coastline would be great and help a lot in decreasing the amount of people littering.

“They are all on the pathways and not actually on the beaches, so a lot of people probably feel like they can’t be bothered to walk from the beach to the path to throw their rubbish away.”

And Paul Thompson, the chairman of the Southend Seafront Traders’ Association, agrees that a shortage of bins is one of the major reasons for the amount of rubbish being left on our beaches.

“We need dustbins, because there are none at all on the main tourist parts of the beach,” he said.

“If we had dustbins actually on the beach, people are more likely to throw their rubbish away instead of leaving it.

“A fining system and advertising campaign could also be started to combat against it. I think that would help.”

Saltwater Beach Café and Billy Hundreds have been encouraging people to carry out two minute beach cleans.

And Liz Carr, the owner of Saltwater Beach Café, Chalkwell Esplanade, Southend, believes more information on the effects of littering would make a major impact.

Liz, 42, said: “A lot of beach cleans are run, which relies on the community to give up their spare time.

“More educational information would help, I think. It would be good to see some facts on how long it takes to degrade a plastic bottle on banners.

“A Boards have been brought in elsewhere and that may be another way to help reduce the amount of rubbish being left on our beaches.”

And Colin Letchford, a member of Friends of Concord Beach and former councillor, backs up Liz’s argument.

The 70-year-old, of Maurice Road, Canvey, said: “We need to keep trying to educate people and tell them the problems caused by littering. A range of illnesses can be caused from things such as dog poo and if the council are unable to stop littering, they need to employ a private company to do it. I volunteer on the beach every Sunday morning and the amount of rubbish we pick up is awful.” The Echo is supporting beach cleans highlighting the great work being done and what is needed.