Don't let Exmouth beach go down the pan!

COULD EXMOUTH beach be going down the pan? Unless we all sit up and take notice of a new report from the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), the answer might be yes. And if it does happen it will be our own fault...

Hot on the heels of the good news in an improvement in Exmouth's bathing water quality, new figures from the MCS Beachwatch Big Weekend 2010 report show a sharp rise in the amount of sewage-related debris found on British beaches.

The survey was conducted by almost 5,000 volunteers who cleaned 376 beaches, covering a total of 167 kilometres over 18 and 19 September 2010. For every kilometre surveyed almost 2,000 pieces of litter were found, and in total over 330,000 items of litter were collected, filling over 3,000 bags.

The results of the survey reveal that in 2010 average beach litter levels nationwide had increased by 6% from 2009, with plastic remaining the worst offender. However, the MCS – a charity dedicated to protecting Britain's seas, shores and wildlife – were shocked to discover an alarming  increase of over 40% in sewage-related debris caused by people using their toilets as "watery waste bins".

“Increasingly people seem to be putting things down their loos that belong in the bin," says MCS Beachwatch Officer Lauren Davis. "Cotton buds, condoms, tampons, tampon applicators and sanitary towels are being flushed away with an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ perception. But sewerage networks and waste water treatment works are not specifically designed to remove these sort of items and unfortunately more and more are ending up in our rivers and then on our beaches."

Coherent plan

MCS has vowed to turn the tide on rubbish, making our seas and beaches cleaner and safer for people and wildlife. The charity is campaigning for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to act now to stop the growing marine litter problem by developing a coherent, coordinated plan to crack down on the amount of rubbish that is washing up or being dropped on our beaches. But in the end it's up to us as individuals to clean up our act.

And that, according to MCS's Lauren Davis is a matter of creating awareness of the problem.

"When people drop a cotton bud down the loo after cleaning their ears, applying make-up or drying baby’s creases, they have no idea that the same cotton bud could end up on their favourite beach, washed up just where they want to put their towel down. There is a serious misconception that once it’s flushed away, it’s gone. But it just isn’t. We want people to follow our simple message – bag it, bin it – but don’t flush it. Stop using your loo as a wet bin.”