Douglas beach has never been cleaner, according to the volunteer beach cleaning group Beach Buddies.
Volunteers gathered on the Isle of Man capital’s promenade this morning and completely cleared the beach of all litter and rubbish, right down to the tiniest piece of plastic.
The beach is already cleaned regularly by Douglas Corporation and their work shows that serious investment really works, according to Beach Buddies organiser Bill Dale.
“This is the first time Beach Buddies has cleaned Douglas beach since we formed six years ago, but there’s a very good reason for this,” he said. “Beach Buddies concentrates its efforts on beaches where there is no investment by government or local authorities, and we have deliberately left Douglas alone, as the Town Council invests a lot of money into keeping the beach clean and tidy.
“Our ‘Big Team’ beach cleaning sessions have been happening all over the Island and we have been asked to organise one in Douglas as the people of the town didn’t want to be left out, so we were happy to respond and make a difference.
“There was nothing like the amount of rubbish we find elsewhere, but our 15 volunteers collected a fair amount of rubbish, mostly small items. And we did manage to find yet another syringe, which re-emphasises the need for all of the Island’s beaches to be cleaned regularly.”
The one-hour cleaning session discovered small items that cannot be collected mechanically, leaving the beach at Douglas in a better condition than for many years. Five bags of various items were collected by the volunteers which were collected and recycled by Town Council staff.
Bill Dale added, “Today shows that ongoing investment by Douglas Town Council in beach cleaning really makes a big difference, but that volunteers can also be a useful addition to the system already in place.
“Now that the beach has been thoroughly cleaned, and because of the cleaning programme provided by the Town Council, I don’t think we will need to go back for some time. We have plans for an Island-wide major beach cleaning campaign prior to the 2013 tourist season, so we will most likely next be back in the spring.”
• Next week the Beach Buddies Big Team switches to the west of the Island and will tackle three adjacent beaches - at Glen Wyllin, Kirk Michael and Glen Mooar. Volunteers should meet at Glen Wyllin car park at 10.30am.
Photo caption - Economic Development Minister John Shimmin and Douglas Town Councillor Ritchie McNicholl were amongst the volunteers on Douglas beach today.
