Today we ventured away from the usual winding lanes and A roads and instead headed somewhere where much of the plastic we’ve already collected would have ended up – the ocean. We went down to the small village of Seatown (just outside Bridport) as I remember seeing lots of plastic on the beach and along the river’s banks during the summer. I also wanted to go down to clean-up Seatown as it is one of the most magical spots in the whole area – if anywhere deserves to be litter-free, it’s Seatown!
As expected there was lots of litter down there, but mostly around the river mouth rather than on the beach itself. Sadly I think the recent flooding must have already carried a large amount of the lingering litter out to sea as most of the stuff left was pretty wedged between the reeds and mud -indicating lots previously on the surface is long gone. Nevertheless we still managed to collect a shocking amount for such a picturesque spot – there was a strange amount of polystyrene lining the river’s banks.
There is something particularly saddening about clean-ups either near a river, near the ocean or both (as in this case). It really goes to show how our whole water system is connected and very much alive; anything and everything makes its way eventually into the rivers and out into the sea. When collecting along roadsides it’s sometimes harder to visualise how that plastic bag you’re picking-up will end up inside some poor sea creature or that cable will end up around the beak of an unfortunate sea bird. However, when near a water source, which is strewn litter, you realise just how all littering is equally as impactful. Equally shocking was the state of the river bed itself at Seatown, which from afar seems fairly normal but upon close inspection contains a carpet of tiny multi coloured fragments of plastic, glass, metal – you name it. They look like lots of little sprinkles, only difference is that there’s nothing about them that’s fun or tasty.
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