Thousands of babywipes have been found on the beaches of Ramsey by volunteers for the beach cleaning group Beach Buddies.
A team of volunteers found that the North Ramsey beach was littered with huge amounts of babywipes, together with large quantities of sanitary towels and plastic cotton buds.
And Beach Buddies believes that a campaign needs to be launched, not only in Ramsey, but across the Isle of Man, to encourage the public not to throw such items down the toilet.
“We understand that Ramsey is one of a small number of places where the sewage system does not have filters to remove things such as babywipes and sanitary towels, but even if the filters were in place it is clearly obvious that to remove these items from sewage is costly, and completely avoidable,” said Beach Buddies founder Bill Dale.
“It’s a simple message: don’t throw babywipes, sanitary towels and cotton buds, or anything else other than toilet paper, down your toilet.”
Beach Buddies is now hoping that local supermarkets will support their campaign to advise the Manx public about what can, and cannot, be disposed of via the toilet.
“We will be contacting all the Island’s supermarkets to place messages alongside these products to advise everyone that the Isle of Man has a problem.
“I think it has to be said that this is not a deliberate act by anyone to cause pollution to our beaches, and I would guess that the vast majority of people have no idea what happens when they throw something like a babywipe down the toilet,” Bill Dale added.
“But the evidence is absolutely clear for everyone to see on the beach at North Ramsey particularly. It was impossible to count the number we found because there were just so many, but every one of our volunteers returned with bags full to the brim with huge quantities of babywipes, and the total would easily have run into several thousand.”
• Beach Buddies organises regular teams of volunteers for beach cleaning every weekend all over the Isle of Man and warmly welcomes new volunteers.
Litterpickers, gloves and bin bags are supplied by Beach Buddies who will also organise the removal and recycling of materials afterwards.
All you need is a decent pair of walking boots, your own gloves if preferred, and a desire to protect wildlife and the environment.
