Yorkshire beach litter criticised

VISITORS to Yorkshire's bathing beaches are the worst in the country for dropping rubbish on the sands, according to an annual litter-pick survey by Britain's largest independent coastal watchdog.

Piles of plastic rubbish, ranging from thousands of drinks bottles and carrier bags to a joke severed finger and a set of vampire teeth, have been collected in the latest annual study by the Marine Conservation Society.

Although the public were the biggest offenders for littering the Yorkshire beaches, the survey looked at all kinds of rubbish, including junk from fishing, shipping and other industry.

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More than 2,700 bags of rubbish were collected – and the public was the biggest culprit for throwing things away carelessly, the society said.

More than two fifths of rubbish comes from people dropping litter on beaches, or inland where it gets washed to the sea by rivers and drains. The North East region, which includes Yorkshire, was the worst.

The North East sector includes Flamborough South Landing, Hessle Foreshore, Spurn Point, Cayton Bay, Hunmanby Beach, Jackson's Bay, Robin Hood's Bay, Scarborough North Bay, and Tate Hill Sands.

These beaches had the lowest litter density of all England regions – 1,166 items per kilometre were found in 2009 compared to 1,460 items per kilometre in 2008, a 20 per cent decrease.

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But the same beaches also suffered form the highest proportion of public litter: 57 per cent - much higher than the UK average of 42 per cent. Plus 2.6 per cent of all litter was fly tipped – the highest of any UK region.

Food wrappers, plastic rope, plastic caps and lids, bottles, fishing nets and cotton bud sticks from sewage were among the 10 most frequently found

items.