Location: Half Moon Bay, Heysham
Cleaned annually by the Lancaster and Morecambe Soroptimists since 1999
Cleaned quarterly by the Lancashire MCS since 2007
Every piece of litter is recorded, picked up, and weighed
Results get sent to MCS as part of their national Beachwatch scheme
Where their source (visitors, shipping, fly-tipping, sewage etc) gets analysed and recorded
Clean-ups in December, March, June, September
A total of 4000 square metres cleaned
by 43 volunteers
who collected 17 sacks of litter, weighing 44 kg
Major storms had damaged the sea defences
We found more cotton bud sticks than the rest of the year combined
The large amount of rubbish in general was probably due to the storms
Unusual items included bitumen- possibly caulking from a boat
We also found plastic pellets- possibly raw packing materials
We combined the beach clean with an evening walk to Heysham Chapel and a meal at the pub
We found our only disposable BBQ of the year
Generally we found more litter over a small area- due to an increase in beach visitors
Our best turn out of the year- 14 people and 300m length cleaned
We found a lot of drinks cans- presumably from Summer parties
Thanks to the Soroptimists (mainly Sandra Moon) for organising
We have found less cotton bud sticks this year- these used to appear in the 100s in every survey
We have found more syringes this year than in all previous years combined!
In general the beach has been quite clean, suggesting either the council are cleaning it, or some other group
The biggest sources of litter are beach visitors, followed by sewage-related debris and shipping
The cafe does not seem to contribute overly to the amount of litter on the beach