Superheroes save the day at Brighton beach clean

The huge haul of rubbish was largely made up of single-use plastics like bottles, cups and food wrappers, organisers said.

Around 250 volunteers ventured out on a cold Saturday morning dressed as superheroes and dancing to DJs via wireless bluetooth headphones as they collected litter.

Organiser Amy Gibson said: “Even in the coldest weeks of the year we are still finding litter on our beaches. We each have a responsibility year-round to care for our local environment and it doesn’t have to be dull, we can all be superheroes!”

The event was one of a series of monthly mass beach cleans in Brighton organised by the Pier 2 Pier Beach Clean community group and Brighton and Hove City Council’s ‘Streets Ahead’ campaign.

This month the event formed part of the Great British Spring Clean - a national campaign which inspires over 400,000 people across the country to get outdoors and clean up towns, villages, countrysides and beaches.

The Pier 2 Pier Beach Clean said millions of tonnes of plastic enter the ocean from the land every day and kill tens of thousands of marine mammals, fish and seabirds; and just off the coast of Brighton 35 per cent of fish are predicted to have plastic in their guts.

The organisation aims to see 2,000 people cleaning beaches in Sussex over 2018 through their mass clean-up events, and they encourage adults and children to get involved and 'be a beach clean hero'.

The next Pier 2 Pier Beach Clean will be on Sunday, April 22, in aid of International Mother Earth Day.