A MAN from Dorset is appealing for help in his quest to rid the beaches of Weymouth and Portland of rubbish.

Simon Owens, 52, from Milton Abbas, is on a one-man mission to try and clean up the beaches in south Dorset after noticing an increase in rubbish being washed up along the shores.

He has launched his campaign, called Operation Perfect Organisation, to clean the beaches and is hoping the initiative will catch on throughout the country in the near future.

Mr Owens is currently collecting rubbish from the beaches once a week, mainly collecting plastic and other recyclable items, and is now asking local residents or businesses to help with the storage of the rubbish before it is recycled.

After just one clean earlier this week, Mr Owens filled his small container on Portland and said if he is to continue the cleans he will need a bigger unit.

Mr Owens said: “I have been doing beach cleans for years, but it was always quite small cleans and this year I want to make a bigger difference.

“I’m 52 and I thought it was about time I made a big difference to the local community and there is so much rubbish on the beaches. I’m hoping that over the next year the project will bring a lot of people together across Dorset and across the whole of the country to clean the beaches, but in each place we need to find a large enough space to store the rubbish before it is recycled.”

Mr Owens said after he has collected the rubbish, he will separate all of what he finds before recycling it himself.

He added: “There is plenty to do, there is plenty of rubbish on the beaches and there are thousands of litter pickers.

“I think it’s very important to keep our beaches clean, it makes them look a lot nicer and it can also be incredibly harmful to wildlife.

“It destroys wildlife, and fish eat some of the rubbish which means they either die or it ends up in the food chain.

“A lot of plastic bags and bottles get washed up on the beaches but there are a lot of other things as well such as fishing equipment and fishing lines which can be dangerous.”

For more information, or to donate a storage unit, please visit theprofessionallitterpicker.com