A green initiative has got island residents sharing their good efforts on social media.

Richard MacNee, who lives near Port Soderick beach, has started a campaign that encourages people to pick up three pieces of plastic a day in a means to keep the island clean.

As part of the ’3 Pieces of Plastic’ (3POP) initiative, people are encouraged to take a photo of the rubbish they have collected and post it on the Twitter or Facebook pages: @3POPIOM.

Richard told the Examiner: ’I began 3POP earlier this year around March. In general it’s gone pretty well. Within a few months the Twitter account has almost 900 followers.’

Richard says that being ’born and bred in the countryside’ has led to him developing a great respect towards the outdoors.

He continued: ’Publicity of plastic over last year or two got me thinking "what can I do to do my bit?" Then I thought, "what can I do to get others involved in it as well?". The Isle of Man is a beautiful place and I want to keep it as that.’

The corporate services worker makes sure to pick up plastic that has been discarded carelessly before work and on his walks around the island. He says he finds it ’frustrating’ when places like Port Soderick Glen and Archallagan Plantation are messy despite having bins around.

This month 3POP has joined forces with Beach Buddies and A Life Less Plastic.

Richard added: ’It’s three organisations working together with the 3POP initiative taking place for three weeks, culminating in three beach cleans on September 30.’

A Life Less Plastic is a new island-wide contest that is running for a year which invites residents to come up with viable solutions to managing marine waste.

To find out more about A Life Less Plastic, search https://alifelessplastic.org