Litter pickers found a tyre and golf tees among the 35kg of rubbish they picked up during a Hayling Island beach clean on a Sunday. in August
The shocking amount of rubbish, which also included nappies, cans, plastic bottles, rope, a fishing hook and a LOT of confectionary wrappers, was cleared in two hours by volunteers.
Hampshire house-builder, Barratt Homes organised the litter picking event in partnership with the Final Straw Foundation, which kindly provided gloves, litter pickers, bags and buckets.
Barratt’s Finance Director, Glen O’Nion came along to help with his daughter.
He said: “It was great to see all the volunteers who came along to help pick up this amount of rubbish in a short space of time. It shows just how many discarded items will be heading into our seas across the country.”
It was at the oyster bed area, behind the Esso garage near Stoke, where the seafront clean-up happened and all volunteers donned eco-friendly “volunteer” t-shirts made from recycled cotton.
Barratt Homes is committed to protecting the environment. It arranged the tidy-up operation to ensure the beach is tidier and safer for its visitors, and to raise awareness of plastic pollution.
Glen added: “With 35kg of rubbish found on one beach, just think about the impact this must be having across the world. Beach cleans are a way for us to help a small bit.”
Every day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution find their way into our oceans, which has a devastating effect on the world’s marine life. Without action, it is predicted that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans – a terrifying statistic.
For Barratt Homes, its sustainability is a high priority – the housebuilder advanced its ranking in the industry specific Next Generation, Sustainability Benchmark Report, published in March 2021, and its sustainability actions were recognised in the FTSE100 with an 11th rank in the Responsibility 100 Index, developed by Tortoise, in April 2021.
The environmentally friendly house-builder has already pledged to reduce its construction waste by 20% by 2025 and has worked on a variety of initiatives to reduce the number of raw materials it consumes.
Barratt will be bringing new homes to Hayling Island at its Pebble Walk development in the autumn – a collection of two, three and four bedroom homes.
For more information, please visit www.barratthomes.co.uk