I’d like to praise the selflessness of the volunteers keeping Castle Cove beach clean, but I argue that we shouldn’t need them in the first place.

The volunteers are tasked with removing up to fifty kilograms of detritus from roughly five hundred visitors daily - and reminding visitors not to leave their litter behind.

The fact people require reminding to bin their rubbish and not ruin an idyllic beach is insanity, but I propose a solution.

Call it brutal, heavy-handed and against my own beliefs regarding the presence of the state in daily life, but the council need to up the ante, grow some teeth and start dishing out hefty fines for a single speck of litter.

How?

Litter enforcers armed with body cameras, possessing the authority to give out fines (with substantial proof).

Cigarette rubbish accounts for more than 40% of all street litter [CIWM], so I suggest starting with a £100 fine for a single cigarette butt tossed onto the floor.

Not only in the specific case of cigarette butts will it have a byproduct of curbing smoking, it will force the general public to care about the environment, curb negative habits and create jobs with aforementioned litter wardens.

The same deal goes with chewing gum. 95% [KeepBritainTidy] of Britain’s streets are spattered with the stuff – it costs 10p to remove a single piece of gum.

Individuals need to make the change for themselves and shouldn’t need to be cleaned up after, but if that’s not possible, a massive fine that the council actually enforce should be a good deterrent.