This was the title of the March Meeting of Wickhambrook WI. Kate Osbourne came and launched into a passionate and damning description of what is happening to our beaches.
Suffolk beaches are considered an important habitat and support some rare plants and animals. Kate organises beach combing and cleaning workshops where people can experience for themselves what can be found. So much rubbish finds its way onto our beaches and most of it is harmful to wildlife. Hans sanitiser, tea bags, labels, balloons, cotton buds, plastic boxes, plastic cutlery, straws and especially wet wipes all contain plastic which is not biodegradable.
Birds in particular ingest vast amounts of plastic waste and even feed it to their young. Kate was keen to tell us what to leave on a beach, for example shells and driftwood which can offer homes to small creatures. Even removing small pebbles can upset the eco balance of the environment.
We all took part in a quiz to discover how much we knew about beach life which was very illuminating.
Kate was keen to point out that there are alternatives to plastic packaging for many everyday items which would help eliminate this problem. We were left deeply impressed by Kate’s zealous campaign to clean up our beaches.
