Damien Moore MP visited Ainsdale beach last Friday for his regular Plastic Free Southport Action Day and was joined by local constituents and around 60 students from Southport College, collecting more than 40 full bags of discarded plastic waste.
Every year 13 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean, causing significant damage to marine life and spoiling coastal landscapes like Southport. Items like plastic drinking straws and stirrers, condiments in plastic sachets and throwaway coffee cups with plastic lids were all picked up on Ainsdale beach on Friday.
Damien spoke with the group after the event and explained that these plastic items were avoidable and can easily be replaced with recyclable, refillable or multiple-use items.
Southport College brought students from the Science, Art and Photography departments to highlight the issues around plastic waste. Students then took all the plastic waste back to the college, where they cleaned the items and made them into pieces of art to highlight the effects it was having in the environment in Southport.
Commenting, Damien Moore MP said:
‘I was delighted that both the older and younger generation came together to rid plastic from Southport’s beaches, I found it encouraging that we have all come together to recognise that single use plastic is not sustainable.’
‘It would only take small changes to eliminate and replace these kinds of single-use plastics and reduce the negative environmental impact, and this was the message I was trying to put across last Friday. Recently, the government announced “The 25 Year Environment Plan” the plans aim is to be the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than it was found, this is something I whole-heatedly support.’
‘I would also like to thank Southport College and the 60 students who attended to help with the beach clean, it was encouraging that the younger generation took a keen interest in cleaning up Southport’s beaches and highlighting the use of single use plastic.’