On Sunday 6th January we held our first beach clean of 2019. It was a bit of an impromptu event, as we had been informed earlier in the week by one of our regular volunteers that unfortunately someone had let off plastic confetti cannons by the beach down by the Ferryboat Pub on Hayling Island. The silver plastic confetti was absolutely everywhere – all over the car park, the beach, in the water, and a good 100 metres down the access road too. It was so light that it was blowing all over the place. One minute’s entertainment, resulting in years of plastic pollution in our local environment – a perfect example of pointless plastic.

Around 50 stoic volunteers responded to our requests for help on social media, despite the short notice. Absolute superstars. It was cold but dry, everyone had wrapped up to make sure their fingers functioned to enable them to pick up as much of the confetti as possible. Some of the volunteers also cleaned up other litter along the roadside and on the beach itself, and others had a go with the new nurdle trommel to sieve out some of the plastic nurdles that are ubiquitous along that stretch of coast.

Around 20 bags of rubbish later and we packed up for the day – a job well done, with as much of the confetti as we could pick up removed from the site. Thank you SO MUCH to all the amazing people that hauled themselves out of their cosy homes on a Sunday morning to come and pick up other people’s mess – you all deserve a medal. Thanks.