The Great Dorset Beach Clean 2012 results

What a fabulous day for a beach clean! Over 600 volunteers turned out for this year's Great Dorset Beach Clean run by Dorset County Council's Coastal Ranger Team. The event was supported by the Dorset AONB Partnership through its Sustainable Development Fund and Virador Waste Management who supplied hundreds of free bags.

26 beaches were involved from Lyme Regis to Christchurch. Everywhere the sun shone and people had a wonderful day mixing family and group enjoyment with doing their bit for the environment and preparing the beaches for the Olympics.

17 members of the Dorset Geologist Association combined a field trip with their litter pick between Eype and West Bay. At Poole Harbour between Holton Lee and Pier Lake, 26 members of the Poole Harbour Canoe Club combed the rocky shore area in 22 boats and collect a magnificent 28 full bags of rubbish along with 3 tyres, some large containers, timber and a navigation pole. Many other groups across the county got involved including 16 Dorset Countryside Volunteers and 10 Poole Sea Rangers. The Weymouth East Cubs as always collected a wide range of rubbish at Ringstead Beach. We also had many families and individuals.

Jenny Penney, coordinator of the Great Dorset Beach Clean said "What a fantastic turn out and thank you to everyone for a fabulous effort on the day! Everyone was in high spirits but it was noticeable that with the absence of big swells and storms off the coast much of the rubbish came from inland sources".

Over 500 bags of rubbish were collected including 86 bags of plastic bottles were recycled by the different councils. There were a number of fly tipping items, beach party debris and also dog poo. Plastic was again the most collected item, the attached spreadsheet (pdf, 44kb) (opens in a new window)  shows the results of the beaches cleaned.

Autumn beach clean - Sunday 16 September 2012

Looking forward to the next beach clean? Have you ever wondered what exactly has been dumped at sea or dropped on the beach? Come and help monitor a beach and find out more. Bring your family and friends or why not form a group to help us monitor a beach near you. This web page will be updated with beach information nearer the time. Please keep checking this site. Thank you for all your help.

If you or your group are interested in becoming a volunteer for the Dorset Countryside Ranger service please contact Jenny Penney

• Coastal Ranger (Purbeck)
  Name: Jenny Penney
  Email: j.penney@dorsetcc.gov.uk
  Tel: 01305 228952
  Full details for Jenny Penney