VOLUNTEERS will hit the beaches this weekend to help clean up the coast.

Local events are taking place today and tomorrow as part of the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) Great British Beach Clean.

The organisation, the UK’s leading marine charity, hopes there will be a last-minute rush of people turning up to help as only 40 volunteers had registered to take part as of last week.

The event takes place every third weekend in September as part of the charity’s year-round Beachwatch programme. A clean-up is also organised locally at the beginning of the season.

Volunteers who get involved in Dorset will be joining an army of beach cleaners not only around the UK but all over the world as part of the global International Coastal Clean-up, which takes a snap shot of beach litter across the planet on a single weekend.

Data collected from the beaches around the UK is published by MCS the following spring in The Great British Beach Clean report which is used at regional, national and international levels to raise awareness of the impacts of marine litter, to promote measures to reduce litter at source and to campaign for marine litter legislation.

MCS Beachwatch Manager Lauren Eyles says the data collected through the Beachwatch programme is vital.

She said: “It helps us identify different litter sources and raise awareness of particular problems.

“We’re currently running a campaign for clearer wet wipe labelling after our volunteers found on average, fifty wet wipes per kilometre of beach they cleaned.

“So far almost 6,000 people have supported our petition to get retailers to make their packaging clearer.”

Last year more than 190 volunteers helped at Dorset beach cleans, some of which are undertaken in conjunction with landowners and wildlife organisations.

Charlie Wild, from Dorset Litter Free Coast and Sea which helps co-ordinate the clean-ups in the county, said: “If you live by the sea or just enjoy spending time along the beautiful Dorset coastline, joining a beach clean can help make sure it’s looking its best.”

At the clean-ups, 100 metres of beach are surveyed and all the events have an organiser to help on the day. Volunteers use a straightforward form to record what they pick up. This helps the Marine Conservation Society to add to the local and UK litter data picture.

The information collected will be used by MCS to work with governments and industry in the charity’s ongoing work to stop litter getting on to our beaches in the first place. All of the beach cleans have an organiser to help on the day.

Lauren Eyles added: “We’d love to see people heading to Dorset’s beaches and helping clean up at the events that have been organised.”

Beach cleans

Saturday, September 17: Chesil Beach (visitor centre), 9am; Chesil Cove, 11am; Seatown, Chideock, 10.30am; Kimmeridge Bay, 2.30pm

Sunday, September 18, Hengistbury Head, 10am; Abbotsbury (drop in any time), 10am - 4pm; West Beach, West Bay, 10.30am; Chesil Beach Centre, 11am; Ham Common (Lake Drive), 11am; Lulworth Cove, 11am; Warbarrow Bay (meet at beach), 1pm; Swanage Town Beach, 1.30pm.

Monday 19: Lyme Regis (Monmouth Beach), 2pm