For Brighton and Hove locals it’s a well known fact of summer that as soon as the sun comes out, the beach gets trashed. Beer cans, plastic bags, chip paper and worse get left behind on the pebbles as visitors leave the seafront and head into town after an afternoon on the beach.

Last year, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) found 1,941 items of litter per kilometre around the South- East’s coastline and across the country, on average, the density of beach litter has increased by over 110% since 1994 to more than 2,000 items per kilometre.

However, these figures only account for litter found during the MCS’s Beachwatch litter- picking event. All the waste left by summertime revellers that someone cleaned up is not included.

Brighton and Hove City Council say it doesn’t keep statistics of how much rubbish gets dumped on the beach, but insists Cityclean takes great pride in keeping the area clean. Indeed, with crews out picking litter between 6am and 10pm, and a shiny clean beach every morning, their efforts are undeniable. But wouldn’t it be nice if people took their litter with them?

A spokesperson for the council says: “Large communal litter bins are provided along the promenade to encourage people to dispose of the rubbish responsibly and temporary bins are provided on the beaches during peak season.

“This summer the council will be providing new recycling bins on the seafront for cans, paper, plastics and other materials to help people recycle as much litter as possible.”

But even with these bins in place, evidence would suggest they are largely ignored.

The problems of beach litter are much further-reaching than simple unsightliness. It is estimated the total cost of clean-up operations across the UK is well over £2 million and the impact on wildlife is saddening.

Of the world’s 312 seabird species, 111 are known to have accidentally eaten plastic, sometimes causing blockages to the digestive system, starvation and eventually death.

Dead turtles washed up on shore often have litter in their guts and in 2002, a small Minke whale washed up on the Normandy coast with over 800g of plastic bags in its stomach.

Encams, the charity behind the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, conducted research to find out why people litter. They discovered that often people dropped rubbish because they thought it didn’t matter, assuming (incorrectly) that apples will biodegrade or tissues break down.

Other people blamed laziness or a lack of bins, or, extraordinarily, that dropping litter was a British tradition.

Interestingly, one main reason for dropping litter was the assumption the local council will pick it up for them afterwards and that it kept litter pickers in jobs.

Armed with these facts, and the necessary compliance of the council to pick up after messy beach visitors, what can the general public do to help?

MCS is looking for volunteers to “adopt” Brighton beach and help with its monitoring to find out what litter appears on our shores, and Encams is running the Big Tidy Up to help tackle problem areas.

We can all pick up the rubbish after our picnic or beer on the beach and the very brave can stop litter bugs in their tracks and ask them, politely of course, to use the bins.

  • Visit www.adoptabeach.org.uk and www.thebigtidyup.org