On Saturday 7^th February a team of Delta-Simons employees cleaned and surveyed a section of Mablethorpe beach as part of the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) Adopt-a-Beach scheme, supported by Crown Estate and Sea France. The beach clean is part of Delta-Simons’ commitment to corporate social responsibility and is the latest project supported by the Lincoln-based environmental consultancy.

 

Sixteen volunteers from the Delta-Simons Lincoln office, travelled to Mablethorpe beach for the first of four beach cleans scheduled for this year, and covered a stretch of coastline over 900 metres wide. More than 1,000 pieces of litter were collected ranging from pieces of clothing and tourist related rubbish, to fishing debris including lines, nets and buoys. The most unusual items found included a quarter shell of coconut and some pieces of unidentifiable bones.

 

The Adopt-a-Beach campaign was launched in 1999 to raise awareness about the problem of marine and coastal litter and help MCS build a better understanding of how litter varies with environmental factors and seasonal use.  Results collated from all of the annual beach cleans across the UK are used to lobby the government and encourage improvement of litter facilities in coastal areas.

 

The MCS have reported an increase of 96.5% of beach litter since 1994; most commonly the litter can be categorised into tourist/recreational litter, fishing, sewage and shipping debris, which has major impact on wildlife, marine eco-systems and local communities. Local authorities, industry and coastal communities spend approximately £14 million a year to clean up beach litter in England and Wales alone (Environment Agency. 2004).

 

Roger Griffiths, Team leader for the clean, and Technical Director at Delta-Simons said

 

“The event was a great success and very worthwhile; everyone worked enthusiastically and we made some interesting finds!  It is actually quite shocking how much rubbish is discarded without any thought to the potential harm it can do. The clean supports Delta-Simons continued commitment to local socio-environmental community projects and we look forward to our next visit to the beach in a few months time.”