58 plastic bottle tops found on Southsea Beach. That is one of the exciting statistics gleaned from the group whom I was following and documenting what we found on the beach between the Pyramids and Southsea Pier. 9 members of the Conservative Team joined 13 other people to help clean the beach for Beachwatch organised by the Marine Conservative Society nationally and by Councillor Luke Stubbs, city councillor for Eastney and Craneswater, locally.

I always thought the beach was very clean when I walk along it but it isn’t until you start to look for rubbish that you notice the amount of detritus hiding amongst the pebbles. Each of us were given bags and plastic gloves along with special picking up tools and I was given the job of documenting all the stuff that my group picked up. The most numerous item was cigarette butts but they were really too many to count around the Pier and Promenade and after around 150 we decided to move nearer the sea and started picking up plastic bottle tops, lolly pop sticks, sweet papers and all the usual things you would find on a tourist beach.

More dangerous was the amount of glass pieces and metal we found as they were hidden among the pebbles and would certainly cut bare feet or animals. We also found pieces of rope and fishing tackle – all of which can cause damage to wildlife. We only found one plastic bag so perhaps we are more careful with what we do with them in Portsmouth as this is the excuse that supermarkets give for charging us for plastic bags – why they don’t start producing paper ones anyway.

I was really pleased to be part of this project and know that Cllr Stubbs does have other beach cleaning sessions – contact him Cllr.Luke.Stubbs@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

It was a gorgeous day and I hope more people will turn out next year.