GOOD-NATURED volunteers took to beaches across the county over the weekend to clean up the world-class coastline.

From Swanage to Lyme Regis eager residents took part in a total of 22 different litter picks as part of the 28th Great Dorset Beach Clean.

The county-wide clean rounded off the week-long Litter Free Coast and Sea challenge organised by the Dorset Coast Forum to encourage families to think carefully about how they dispose of their waste after a day out.

Lyn Cooch, the volunteer beach master manning the Chesil Cove clean, said: “The beach actually looks fairly clean, but when we really start looking there is still a lot of plastic.

“The plastic can cause a lot of damage to marine wildlife so by doing a beach clean we are preventing it getting washed back in again when the next storm comes in, but we are also getting an idea if what is being washed up so we can prevent it in the future.”

Marine experts have warned of the dangers caused by millions of plastic ‘nurdles’ that wash up along the coast each year which can release toxins.

Marine Conservation Society member Sue Frazer said: “The little nurdles of plastic, less than peas size, can be particularly then it can’t digest it. Most of it comes off tankers as the raw material which they re-constitute to make things.”

The Litter Free Days out campaign has also been promoting its #2minutebeachclean project to encourage residents to reduce marine litter two minutes at time.

To that end, ten beach clean stations have been installed across Dorset including at Quiddles Café on Portland, The Boat on Weymouth Esplanade and the Beachside Leisure Centre at Bowleaze Cove.

Sue said: “A two-minute beach blitz is a brilliant idea, people can just come down independently and pick up as much as they can.”

in a couple of minutes, and children also love to use the litter pickers.”

Portland resident Alan Weir, who was out for the Chesil clean early Saturday morning said: “It is not as bad as I have seen it in the past it’s largely plastic as you would expect. We have done this a few times now; it is quite a frequent local event.

“We get involved because we live locally and like to keep the environment as nice as we can for people who live here and people who come and visit.”