Beach Buddies have bought a new trailer to help with their work cleaning up the environment.

For the past six years, since volunteer numbers started to grow, it was possible to recover large bags of marine litter collected along the north west coastline only by hand, sometimes covering very long distances between beach access points.

On some occasions the items found simply could not be manhandled.

Wheels, fishing nets, ropes and large metal items were too heavy to be lifted.

The all-terrain vehicle, paid for by the SkyWind Group, arrived on the island in autumn last year, but it required its own trailer to get to beaches on long stretches of the north west coast.

A new trailer, specifically for the vehicle, was brought to the island recently by the Steam Packet and has helped to transform Beach Buddies operations.

’This makes a huge difference,’ said Beach Buddies founder Bill Dale.

’Those days of hauling heavy bags huge distances along the north west beaches are over. I know this will be a big relief to our volunteers.’