Piles of wet wipes are littering our beaches as more people choose to use moist cloths to remove make-up, replace traditional toilet paper and apply fake tan. According to the latest beach litter data collected by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) and published today in its Great British Beach Clean report, numbers of wet wipes found on beaches increased by over 50% in a single year!
The charity’s report, which also reveals a 6.4% rise in beach litter between 2013 and 2014, comes as the Government claims that no new action is needed on marine litter and claims it’s doing all it...
Palm Oil is washing up on some beaches along East Devon’s Jurassic Coastline. Although it is not normally harmful to humans or birds, it can prove toxic to dogs if they eat it.
East Devon District Council is warning dog owners to beware of their pets eating the substance. And the council is offering to pick up any clumps of congealed palm oil that are reported to it.
If you find this substance on the beach, please contact East Devon District Council to arrange removal. You can call 01395 516551 or tell us via the Report Litter form on the East Devon App.
Devon’s beaches are among those on track to fail the new tougher bathing water quality standards tests, the Environment Agency has said today. The new water quality standards, which are almost twice as stringent as the current standards, will come into force in England next year in an effort to tackle pollution on the seafront. However recent tests by the Environment Agency found that, while around 90% of English Beaches are expected to meet the tougher standards, 40 English beaches (including seven in Devon) are currently at risk of failure. Failure would mean the local authority would be...
South West Water's award-winning bathing water quality website BeachLive - www.beachlive.co.uk - has gone live, ready for the start of the bathing water season on 15 May.
The website features 45 Blue Flag and popular beaches across the region, with live water quality updates from 40.
Launched in 2011 in partnership with the Environment Agency, Surfers Against Sewage, tourism leaders and beach managers, BeachLive gives users bathing water quality information based on monitoring data from South West Water's sewerage network until the end of the official bathing season in...
A record number of South West beaches have achieved the highest bathing water standards this year according to a report from Marine Conservation Society (MCS) released today. The MCS 'Good Beach Guide’ shows that 173 out of 195 (88.7%) South West beaches received the top standard for excellent water quality.
Nationally MCS has recommended 538 out of 734 (73%) UK beaches tested during last summer as having excellent water quality –135 more than the previous year.
MCS Coastal Pollution Officer, Rachel Wyatt, says she hopes the latest figures will be a boost to UK tourism...
What do half a TV, a French bullet-proof vest and an unopened pack of bacon have in common? They were all cleared from our beaches during a single weekend last September and were among the 223,405 bits of litter that volunteers bagged up and removed as part of the Beachwatch Big Weekend 2013, organised by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS). The UK’s leading beach cleanup and survey has now been running for twenty years and over the two decades the amount of litter found on our beaches has been steadily increasing. The 20th anniversary clean up, which took place between 20th and 23rd...
What do half a TV, a French bullet-proof vest and an unopened pack of bacon have in common? They were all cleared from our beaches during a single weekend last September and were among the 223,405 bits of litter that volunteers bagged up and removed as part of the Beachwatch Big Weekend 2013, organised by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS). The UK’s leading beach cleanup and survey has now been running for twenty years and over the two decades the amount of litter found on our beaches has been steadily increasing. The 20th anniversary clean up, which took place between 20th and 23rd...
After a Christmas and New Year period that saw Britain battered by high winds, lashing rain and storm waves believed to be amongst the most extreme in living memory, many of the UK’s beaches have been left strewn with huge amounts of litter.
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS), which organises the annual Beachwatch Big Weekend in September when thousands of people clean and survey hundreds of UK beaches, says now is a good time to get out on the beach and really make a difference.
Lauren Eyles, MCS Beachwatch Officer, says some beaches have been left in a terrible state,...
South West Water has been ordered to pay £60,300 in fines and costs for polluting two beaches at Salcombe in South Devon. The case was brought by the Environment Agency.
Sewage spills occurred in August 2012 during the Salcombe annual regatta.
On August 6 the Agency responded to reports of pollution at South Sands. It found sewage leaking from a corroded inspection hatch and flowing down the beach.
South Hams District Council responded to the pollution by erecting a sign at the entrance to the beach advising people not to bathe at South Sands. South West Water...
Bathing water quality across the South West is at its best for seven years.
Out of 145 designated bathing waters sampled in the South West Water region, covering Devon, Cornwall and Lyme Regis in Dorset, 144 or 99.3% met or exceeded the minimum European water quality standard and 132 or 91% met the tighter guideline standard.
This is a significant improvement on last year’s results, when 133 or 91% met the minimum standard and 91 or 62% met guideline.
Before South West Water’s Clean Sweep programme closed 250 crude sewage outfalls across the region, at a cost of...
