Nearly a tonne collected as part of Beach Clean Challenge

Saturday 28 April 2018

Nearly a tonne of rubbish, including old boat trailers and chains, has been collected this week as part of Ports of Jersey's Beach Clean Challenge, ahead of the 2018 Boat Show.

90 volunteers from Ports of Jersey have been spending the week scouring beaches and harbours around the island, with the help of teams from Barclays, the Boat Show's lead sponsor and members of the public are invited to join for the last meetings this weekend.

Today, the volunteers will be at Ouaisne Slipway from 09:30 before moving on to Petit Port at 14:00. There will go east on Sunday, starting at Archirondel from 09:30 and Rozel from 15:00. All ‘equipment’ will be provided courtesy of local charity ‘Littlefeet Environmental.'

Commenting ahead of the first beach clean, Leanne Bass, on behalf of Ports of Jersey, said: “Plastic and litter pollution has sadly become a dominant feature at beaches, marinas and small harbours around the world, damaging global marine eco-systems and here in Jersey we recognise that the Island has more than its fair share. Working around the tides volunteers will be seeking to clear these areas as much as we can and we’d be delighted to welcome any more volunteers to help us with our efforts."

This week's beach cleans have proven very busy for the volunteers with nearly a ton collected. A total of 175kg were collected in St. Aubin's bay on Friday afternoon. Andy Farmer of Ports of Jersey said: "It has been fantastic. We have found a lot in some places while other beaches were tidier. We didn't find much in Greve de Lecq for example.

"It was mostly hadn't picked up bits of rubbish. We found the odd mooring wheel, some metal stuff but the bulk of it was plastic. We also found some old boat trailers and chains that will be picked ups."

Islanders and tourists have also joined in the efforts to get the beaches clean before the Boat Show. Mr Farmer said: "We have been getting quite a lot of public and tourists in the beach cleans. We had quite a lot of tourists in St. Catherine's they seemed to be fascinated by what we were doing. It is a result of taking with tourists and getting the message out there.

"We have really been trying to communicate and tell people what we were doing so it has been really good. This is the first Beach Clean we have done as Ports of Jersey. We have been trying to focus on the environment a little more so hopefully we will get support for more in the future."