Brighton beach covered in rubbish sparks resident anger

Angry residents collected “mountains” of litter after Brighton beach became swamped with people desperate for a dip in sea.

Thousands descended on the pebbles on Monday, but a handful of ‘idiots’ left a huge amount of waste in their wake.

“I am disgusted by people who think it’s acceptable to leave mountains of rubbish on our beautiful beach,” said one beachgoer.

“I was shocked on Monday night as the sun was setting to see beer cans, cardboard boxes, bottle caps, food wrapping, plastic cups, tissue and a half used ketchup bottle strewn about on the pebbles just waiting for the tide to come in.

“I, along with a few others, made a desperate attempt to rescue just some of the tonnes of rubbish left by idiots who think it’s acceptable to pollute our beach like this.”

Waste left on the beach in Brighton

The man told of a fellow impromptu litter picker, who was visiting the seaside from London for the day, who ended up covered in bright pink Strongbow cider.

He said: “She seemed pretty drunk, but at least she was making an effort to tidy up some of the rubbish.

“I heard her shout ‘I came here to enjoy myself not to clear up other people’s rubbish’.”

The problem was repeated on Tuesday, while Wednesday morning revealed the grim reality of the situation.

The city council cleans the beach every day and is working to reduce the use of plastics.

But Tory councillor Robert Nemeth said the repeated issue warrants an entire new council to sort out.

“The Green/Labour council is sadly not prioritising the cleaning of the seafront and the local environment is suffering as a result,” he said.

“From overflowing bins to poor quality public toilets and sporadic litter collection, the council is failing to manage the beach at peak tourist season.

Councillor Robert Nemeth with a barbeque that was left on the beach

“Not only is it an eye-sore, it is also being washed out to sea and blown around the city centre.

“The matter should be an urgent priority for the Coalition Administration at Thursday’s meeting of full council but sadly it won’t be.

“Instead of discussing local matters such as keeping the seafront clean, the Greens and Labour instead wants the council to debate the US Supreme Court Roe vs Wade decision.

“Residents desperately need a new council to get on top of these issues, clean up the seafront and manage the city properly.”

Groups of volunteers were seen working their way along the shore yesterday morning, collecting the by-products of just two days of extreme sunshine.

Among the rubbish were empty nitrous oxide canisters, used as an illegal party drug, empty bottles of beer, hundreds of straws and many barbecues.

Emma Tozer came to Brighton on Wednesday to collect litter with her London-based company Media Bounty, and said the problem is getting worse.

Emma, second from left, and her team

“Local businesses need to be taking action,” said Emma.

“We’ve found loads of bottle tops, metal tops, and loads of straws. Why are they giving straws when they don’t need to?

“It’s so much worse than it was three years ago.”

Brighton and Hove City Council called on people to take their rubbish home.

A spokesman for the city council said: “The problem will never go away completely while there are people who think it’s ok to simply leave their waste on the beach and expect the council to clear up after them.

“Through our Circular Economy Routemap and Action Plan we’re taking a lead in working to reduce use of plastics and help Brighton and Hove transition from a ‘throw-away’ society towards one that minimises waste and pollution.

“We liaise regularly with our seafront traders on a range of issues including litter. Cup rental schemes are one of a number of ways we have suggested for reducing waste.

The shore was scattered with rubbish

“But we have no powers to force them to introduce this.

“Like many other initiatives that would help tackle waste and litter, this could only be achieved through government action.

“Most of our residents and visitors care and do not leave waste on our beaches – and we are incredibly disappointed that a minority of people are still doing this."

The city council said that the beach is cleaned by litter pickers each day during the summer, and that it supports multiple beach cleans a week which are organised by groups and businesses.

“We issued nearly a thousand fines for littering in the city last year. Many of these were on the beach and seafront area,” it said.