A BAND of 230 volunteers collected more than 250kg of litter from Dorset beaches during an autumn clean.

The Marine Conservation Society’s Great British Beach Clean 2016 report is out today following surveys carried out in September.

This includes in Dorset where 15 beaches from Hengistbury Head to Lyme Regis were targeted (a total of 1,560 metres) and 11,185 items found.

Dorset Litter Free Coast and Sea helps co-ordinate the clean-up locally,

The South West saw a 15 per cent increase in the amount of beach litter compared to last year, the MCS says.

But there’s good news – the marine charity has revealed the number of plastic carrier bags found on UK beaches dropped by almost half between 2015 and 2016. This is the lowest number reported in over a decade, and good news for marine wildlife.

The charity began calling for action on single use carrier bags in shops back in 2008 and was instrumental in getting a levy introduced.

Lauren Eyles, MCS Beachwatch Manager, said: “In the last decade, our Great British Beach Clean volunteers have found an average of ten single use carrier bags for every 100 metres of coastline cleaned.

“This year, for the first time since the charges were introduced, we’ve seen a significant drop in the number and that can only be as a result of the 5p charge which is now in place in all the home nations.

“It vindicates the charge, which we predicted would be good news for the marine environment.

“Thanks to our thousands of fantastic volunteers who collect beach litter data, we can now see the impact these charges have had.”

Beaches in England and Northern Ireland saw the biggest drop in the number of plastic bags found during the September clean up.

Meanwhile, data showed a rise of over 4 per cent in the quantity of drinks containers found on the UK’s beaches – including plastic bottles, bottle tops and aluminium cans. And there was an astonishing rise in the amount of balloon related-litter found – a 53.5 per cent increase on 2015.

The charity says it’s taking its ‘Don’t Let Go’ campaign to a local level to persuade more councils to ban the release of both balloons and sky lanterns on their land.