Volunteers combing the beach from Brighton Marina to Ovingdean retrieved 500 kilograms of debris during an “extreme” beach clean this weekend.
A team of just six volunteers gathered the pile over the weekend, taking advantage of low tides from early in the morning.
The results of the beach clean were displayed to demonstrate the amount of plastics, nets and other debris collected from the coastline.
BBC radio presenter Melita Dennett posted a picture online showing the debris pile and a chalk notice written on the pavement beside saying: “This is what is in our sea.”
The BBC Introducing host, Ms Dennett wrote on Twitter: “Walked along the Undercliff from Rottingdean to Brighton and came across the results of a beach cleanup – mainly fishing gear, bits of boats and of course plastic bottles. Appalling.”
The beach clean was organised by Beachy Head and Seven Sisters Extreme Plastic Objects Removal (BHASS Explore) who have been carrying out extreme beach cleaning, where the rocky terrain can be challenging.
Founder of BHASS Explore, known as ‘Warm Norm’, said: “We’ve been holding a monthly event down at the We’re going down again in August to try and get a tonne, and we’ll hopefully get some more local people to attend.
“It’s difficult; it’s not an easy beach clean. It’s quite hard on the body, grazing your knuckles on barnacle shells and getting in tight spaces.
“We need people who are rock climbers, people who enjoy potholing, or even just walking and carrying the debris.”
In the past year, the BHASS Explore project says it has removed five tonnes of plastic and synthetic materials from the two kilometre stretch of coastline.
Around 60 per cent of what BHASS Explore untangles from sea defence boulders is from the fishing industry, including crab pots, buoyancy aids, hooks and nets.
Not all the plastics that are salvaged are recyclable, and most debris has been stuck there for decades when the boulders were put there 30 years ago.
Another BHASS Explore event tomorrow Wednesday, 27 July, will remove almost two tonnes of marine debris from beneath the cliffs of Beachy Head.
From 7am, the team will load a boat with stored debris from previous beach cleans and wait while trapped by tides in caves for around eight hours.
You can find more about BHASS beach clean events on www.bhassexplore.com
