Litter Still Problem For Our Beaches

Despite seeing the biggest drop in the country - the South West's beaches still had the wosrt litter problem last year.

3,269 items of rubbish were picked up per kilometre of our coastline - compared to 2000 nationally.

However the figure is 32% less than the amount collected in 2008 - 4,784 items.

Sue Kinsey from the Marine Conservation Society says they are aware the drop could be a blip: "we're certainly hoping this may be the start of turning the tide on litter, but unfortunately in the South West there is still an awful lot of litter - over three thousand items per kilometre surveyed."

She did add that it isn't necessarily our fault: "a lot of litter coming from the channel - it hits your coast first - and you get a lot of tourists. It doesn't mean that people in the south west are necessarily any dirtier than anywhere else."