Many thanks to pupils and staff from Bydales school who carried out the litter survey on the beach. 3 different groups collected a total of 27 bags of litter from the High Street entrance to just past the flag pole at Cliff House. More importantly they gathered some interesting data about the items found. Top of the list were large plastic pieces (180 / 15%), closely followed by cotton bud sticks (174 / 14%) and sweet wrappers/crisp packets (148 / 12%). The young people were surprised to find so much litter on the beach and shocked to find so many sanitary items (174 cotton bud sticks, 35 sanitary towels/tampon applicators, and 28 wet wipes) - they had no idea that this is where these items end up if they are flushed down the toilet.
                                         TOTAL    %
Polystyrene                             41    3.44
Plastic Bottles                             110    9.23
Plastic Caps and Lids                101    8.47
Sweet/wrappers/Crisp Packets       148    12.42
Cans                                         105    8.81
Glass Bottles                            13    1.09
Glass Pieces                            40    3.36
Cigarette Butts                            36    3.02
Plastic Bags                            83    6.96
Fishing Related                            16    1.34
Shipping Related                            17    1.43
Sewage related - Cotton Buds       174    14.60
Sewage related - Sanitary Items     35    2.94
Sewage related - Wetwipes           28    2.35
Plastic Pieces over 1cm               180    15.10
Plastic Pieces under 1cm                55    4.61
Other                                         10    0.84
Total                                           1192    100

Young people have also designed posters and logos for Marske Litter Action. We hope to display these in the library in the coming weeks.