Brighton: Highest amount of rubbish ever left on beach

More than 11 tonnes of glass, bottles, plastic cups, laughing gas canisters and other litter was collected by beach cleaners after selfish sun-seekers dumped their waste on the pebbles and open spaces.

The city hosts huge international events every year but this was the worst case of littering the cleaners have ever seen.

By comparison, the average amount of rubbish collected in a day at this time of the year is about three tonnes.

What makes it even more shocking is that it comes in the midst of a UK lockdown, in which the latest Government guidance urges people to “stay at home as much as possible” and “limit contact with others” from outside their household.

Yet thousands descended on Brighton and Hove seafront on yesterday as the city sweltered in 30C heat.

With concerns raised over social distancing on packed seafronts, Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that beaches could be closed if people did not “respect the rules”.

He said: “We do have that power. I am reluctant to use it because people have had a pretty tough lockdown and I want everybody to be able to enjoy the sunshine.

“But the key is to do it with respect for the rules. Stay with your household and stay a good distance from other households.

“But we do have those powers and if we see a spike in the number of cases then we will take action.”

This is the latest disgraceful incident of littering as Brighton and Hove City Council attempts to cope with “a daily tidal wave of tourists and locals descending on the city’s parks and beaches, some of whom are leaving their rubbish behind them rather than finding a bin or taking it home”.

Beach cleaners start at 5am to try to clear the beach but they said the sea of rubbish has left them “stretched to their limit”.

So the council has now introduced new measures to tackle the issue.

More bins have been added along the seafront, there will be more collections each day in the city’s larger parks and large bins have been installed in the busiest areas.

As well as this, enforcement officers will patrol the beach from 9am to 8pm, issuing £150 on-the-spot fines to those spotted dropping litter, and an extra truck will be introduced to “concentrate on collecting litter on the seafront”.

Extra staff are also being sent out to clear the rubbish, with a recruitment drive for more litter-pickers under way.

Councillor Anne Pissaridou, chairwoman of the council’s environment, transport and sustainability committee, said: "We’re doing our very best to clear the massive amount of rubbish and waste that’s being left on our seafront and in our parks, but we’re already stretched to the limit.

"We’re hoping these new measures help with the constant battle we face every day, caused by people that frankly don’t care about other people, the environment or our wildlife and marine life.

"Our message is clear – we have almost 400 bins along the seafront and many bins in our parks that people can use for their rubbish.

"If the closest bin is full, we’re asking people to find one that isn’t, or take their rubbish home.

"There’s no excuse. If they’re prepared to carry it onto the beach or into the park they must take responsibility for the litter and take it away and dispose of it responsibly."

Cllr Pissaridou said the council is still being affected by many Cityclean and City Parks staff having to self-isolate due to Covid-19.

As a result, the authority has had to "move staff around to fill gaps".

Cllr Pissaridou said: "Not only are we redeploying staff to help with the beaches and parks, we also have to ensure the normal collections of residents bins, recycling and garden waste are up to speed to ensure the city is clean."