AN ARMY of 60 volunteers took part in a big beach clean and found hundreds of cigarette butts - and even some earrings.

Volunteers came to Brighton beach yesterday and bagged 8kg of rubbish. They picked up pieces of plastic waste such as bottle caps, old nails, broken glasses, a wooden plank with nails and corks.

The event was organised by waste management company Paper Round which provides environmental services in Brighton, London and the South East.

The team spent nearly two hours combing the beach and collected ten bags of rubbish. Dominic Collison, sales director, said: “It was a great day and we’ve collected a lot of litter.

“There is a major problem with ocean litter, much of which ends up on beaches.

“It’s surprising how much discarded rubbish goes unnoticed until you run an event like this.

“Events like this raise awareness and we’re grateful to our clients for joining in for a great cause.

“We look forward to arranging our next event.”

Viki Taylor, communications manager, said: “Many of our clients were keen to do their bit for the environment.

“The beach’s rubbish is regularly cleaned up by Brighton and Hove City Council.

“When we arrived we found lots of smaller pieces of rubbish. We found plastic, more than 300 cigarette butts and even a few earrings.

“Small pieces of plastic can be easily overlooked, but they are still very hazardous as they take a long time to decompose.

“Animals can easily mistake them as food and choke on them. Glass is recyclable but they pose a public hazard, especially if it is a broken bottle which can cause nasty injuries if stood on.

“We separated the rubbish from recyclable waste and general waste.

“The cigarette butts will be recycled to useful plastic products at our partner company Terracycle.

“The data collected from previous beach cleans has made a significant impact on the UK’s waste problems, which has led to positive change.”

The clean up is part of the Marine Conservation Society’s Great British Beach Clean. Many volunteers have dedicated their time to keeping the beach clean.

Earlier this year, volunteers from Pier 2 Pier Beach Clean spent the winter tidying the beach and collected up to 300kg of waste.