DORSET'S beaches are looking a lot cleaner thanks to the help of some enthusiastic litter pickers.

The Great British Beach Clean was held over the weekend and saw volunteers gather in full force to clear rubbish from the county’s beaches.

On Saturday, beach cleans were held at both Chesil Beach and Charmouth Beach.

Lorraine Burchell, aged 48 from Weymouth, helped organise the Chesil Beach clean-up in the morning.

She said: “We had a really good event with a total of 27 litter pickers including me.

“We ended up filling 12 bin bags full of rubbish and after speaking to Marc from the Chesil Beach Centre, we were able to focus our efforts on the area where the little tern colony had been.”

She said: “We found lots of fishing related stuff, including bait lines and rope. But far beyond all of that was the plastic, in various sizes and different stages of decomposition. A lot of it was unidentifiable, it was quite terrifying.”

She added: “I would like to say a massive thank you to all the volunteers, not just those who helped me, but anyone who decided to give their time and efforts to help clean up the country’s beaches.”

As well as litter picking, volunteers were surveying the different types of rubbish they found.

Lorraine added: “I’ve got to put together all the data which my team collated. It will go on to the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) website. They’re looking at the types plastic found on the beaches and what to do about it.”

Local Tories also came together to help clean Weymouth’s beaches on Saturday.

The South West Conservative Beach Clean was held on Saturday and saw Cllr Ian Bruce get his hands dirty.

The group cleaned the shingle beach from Greenhill to the pier band stands in Weymouth.

Cllr Bruce explained that the South West Conservatives organised volunteers from all the South West Conservative Constituency Associations to join in with the Great British Beach Clean.

Cllr Bruce was pleased to say that the area of beach the first group had swept was already almost litter free which indicated that in Weymouth the Great British public are acting on the message to take their litter home with them.

On Sunday, another beach clean was held at Chesil Beach and co-ordinated by Dorset Wildlife Trust.

There was also a beach clean from West Bay which was organised by West Bay Community Beach Clean Group, and in the afternoon, volunteers gathered at Worbarrow Bay for a litter sweep.

The Great British Beach Clean is organised by the MCS and is now in its 25th year. The event saw volunteers collect litter and gather data so the MCS can find out where it’s coming from. It’s also hoped the research can be used as a catalyst for changing recycling laws, such as the plastic bag charge and upcoming ban on plastic-stemmed cotton buds.

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