Two local environmental groups organised a successful litter clean-up on Douglas beach following stormy weather.

High tides and strong winds since the start of the year resulted in large amounts of rubbish, debris, and fishing nets on Manx beaches, which PlasticBusters and Beach Buddies saw as an opportunity to get out and clean up.

Organised in late February before the new lockdown, it saw more than 100 volunteers come out to support the beach clean effort, which the organisers said was a resounding success.

Founder of Beach Buddies, Bill Dale said: ’This was a great success and a record-breaking event, with 117 people joining us on Douglas beach, boosted by the team from PlasticBusters and guided by the Eyesea app.

’We collected 520kg of rubbish in about 90 minutes.’

Founder of PlasticBusters, Jaime Amoedo, agreed with Mr Dale and praised all those involved in the clean up, saying: ’I would like to thank all of the volunteers from both groups that came together to clean Douglas beach on February 21, which was an extraordinary example of collaboration to support the preservation of our beautiful island’s biosphere.’

Both groups have been supporting Eyesea, a new pollution mapping smartphone application developed by the shipping industry, which is used to photograph, tag and map pollution, both at sea and onshore.

Mr Amoedo explained: ’It was great to be able to test the Eyesea app for the first time, and it gave our group of volunteers in the Isle of Man the opportunity of having quality information, in advance, about the specific location of waste that had been washed up on Douglas beach.

’This allowed us to focus our efforts in those areas that needed most attention. We will definitely recommend the use of the app to our volunteers globally when it is launched.’

The Eyesea app was used to collect data prior to the cleanup, highlighting areas where concentrations of debris had washed up.

This was used to pinpoint areas of focus for the groups to send volunteers to, saving time, and thus maximising effort.