Volunteers find dangerous litter in beach clean-up

A group of volunteers have seen an increase in litter at Sutton on Sea beach

Glass bottles and a syringe are among the dangerous litter discovered by shocked volunteers carrying out a beach clean-up in Lincolnshire this week.

The Sutton on Sea BeachCare litter-pickers said they regularly found nappies, clothing and fast food packaging - but more "worrying" items were now being uncovered in the sands.

Lianne Havell, who founded the group, said those littering the beach were "lazy, negligent and careless" and urged people to bin their rubbish or take it home.

She also said the amount of litter they were finding had steadily increased during the summer - volunteers collected 32 bags of litter in May, 46 in July, and they had already collected 51 bags so far in August.

Sutton on Sea is a popular summertime destination for families

Laura Spurr, 41, volunteered with the group for the first time in August.

She said she signed up to help the community and enjoy some physical activity outdoors, but was shocked by what she found on the beach.

She said: “I’ve got two children and to think that they might run along the beach and tread on it is quite shocking.”

Husband and wife David and Shirley Southam, 63 and 74 respectively, started litter picking on the beach when they moved to the town 18 months ago.

Though they had not necessarily seen an increase in the amount of rubbish they were picking up, they said they were finding "more dangerous things around now".

Mr Southam said: "We found a needle and a syringe this morning, and that's very, very worrying."

He added that better information about the availability of bins could help to solve the littering problem, but Mrs Southam said that even as they cleaned the beach, visitors were leaving juice bottles for them to pick up.

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