More than 60kg of waste picked up from beach in Dorset
Volunteers combed the English beach for litter in July and racked up 60kg worth of waste. It comes as the new government hints it will bring in a deposit return scheme to boost recycling of things like plastic bottles sooner than October 2027, as previously planned.
Tuesday 6 August 2024 16:07, UK
Volunteers have picked up more than 60kg of waste from one English beach.
Clothes, flip-flops, socks, fishing wire and plenty of bottles and cans were among the items salvaged from the sand on Southbourne Beach, Bournemouth.
Local workers from recycling firm Biffa and staff from hospitality company Mitchells & Butlers set out to clean up the Dorset beach on 17 July.
It then took a few weeks to take it back to the Poole depot, where it was weighed and sorted.
Half of the 60kg (9.6 stone) haul was made up of glass bottles, while almost a third of the weight came from plastic bottles, both of which are relatively easy to recycle.
Anything eligible, like plastics and glass bottles, was sent for recycling.
Non-recyclable general waste was sent to an energy-from-waste facility to be burned to generate electricity.
Mark Chapman, Biffa's head of corporate accounts, said: "We take great pride in supporting local sustainability projects and were thrilled to work alongside our customer Mitchells & Butlers for the litter pick at Southbourne Beach, helping to ensure our beautiful coastline is protected for everyone's enjoyment."
The two companies have partnered on a food waste project to use it to generate energy rather than going to landfill.
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The new Labour government last week committed to bringing forward a deposit return scheme to tackle litter and boost recycling.
Successful in Norway and Germany, such systems see consumers pay a small deposit for drinks containers, which is refunded upon return.
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The UK government committed to one in 2018, but plans have been beset by technical difficulties and delays, and in April was again pushed back from 2025 to 2027.
Last week the environment department said it was aiming to bring in the scheme before October 2027.