Beach clean-ups reveal 'ridiculous' pile of toys

Usable toys will be sorted and washed before being offered for use again next summer

A vast pile of discarded buckets, spades and toys picked up from a seaside resort over the summer has been described as "ridiculous" by clean-up volunteers.

Weymouth & Portland Marine Litter Project carried out sweeps of Weymouth beach in Dorset over about 60 evenings after busy sunny days through May and August.

Volunteer Dave Taylor said: "People just literally buy everything for the day and then just leave it on the beach it is quite astounding... we found rubbish was literally washing out to sea as the tide came in."

After being sorted by a local scout group, more than 90% of the items picked up will be recycled or, if still in good shape, cleaned up and repaired for reuse next summer.

The clean up volunteers also picked up several sacks of beach towels left on the sands - they were were washed and given to Monkey World.

Burst inflatables were taken to Weymouth college to be used by art students and abandoned beach shelters, chairs, shoes, parasols and windbreaks are expected to be reused or repurposed.

Mr Taylor said: "Our main ethos is to try and reduce litter in the first place and trying to get people away from thinking 'as long as it's in the bin it's all good'.

"We have over 70 bins on the seafront at Weymouth and they are full every day to the brim... all that waste is created every single day and it's unnecessary.

"The numbers are just ridiculous. We need to stop being so wasteful when visiting the beach, not just bin everything."

Burst Inflatables have been taken to Weymouth college to be used by art students

Dorset Council said: "The waste we collect from the litter bins is processed with the black bin rubbish we collect at the kerbside.

"The majority goes to a mechanical biological plant near Wimborne, where organic and recyclable materials are extracted.

"Leftover material is turned into fuel and sent to Somerset and European Energy from Waste facilities (such as incineration), while a small amount of waste that cannot be treated is sent to landfill outside Dorset."

Mr Taylor said the amount of discarded items was "ridiculous"