SAS (Surfers Against Sewage) campaigners and over 60 volunteers turned up to Porthtowan on Saturday the 23rd of February to give the beach a spring clean. It was really shocking what the winter seas have deposited on the beach and in just 2 hours we collected more than 150kg of litter.The vast majority of this 152.2kg of litter was plastic. Plastics float and the predominant South Westerly winds push the litter onto our beaches all year round. However, over winter, stronger winds can bring in more litter and also big storms can churn up litter from the seabed. This is made worse with the high number of shipping accidents that have occurred this winter resulting in cargo being lost overboard. Plastics, and other types of marine litter are not only unsightly but can cause the death of dolphins, whales, turtles and other marine animals and injury humans.

Volunteers found hundreds of cotton bud sticks on the beach, these are plastic and, as with all sanitary related debris, is a good sign that water quality might not be great. So please remember to support SAS’s Think Before You Flush campaign, don’t use the toilet as a wet.

From the 152.2kg of litter collected, we separated all the identifiable litter and we’re sending it back to the manufacture. This is part of SAS’s ongoing Return To Offender campaign calling on the manufacturers to increase their anti litter message and reduce their packaging or at least look at introducing lower impact packaging.

Andy Cummins, SAS Campaign Officer: We were blown away with the amount of people who turned up to clean the beach in the middle of February. It just goes to show how many people out there really care for our beaches. SAS owes everyone who turned up a huge thank you! Unfortunately, even with over 60 volunteers we could take all the litter of the beach, that would have taken us weeks. But we should all be very proud of the 152kg we did pick up.

SAS would also like to thank the Blue Bar who provided free coffees and hot chocolates to everyone who took part and Freakfish Surf Shop who donated £80 of prizes.