A plastic bottle almost 50 years old has been found by volunteers from Beach Buddies during as beach cleaning session at Brewery Bay in Port St Mary.

The remains of a washing-up Sqezy liquid bottle was found among hundreds of plastic items collected during the charity’s weekly events on beaches around the Isle of Man.

The bottle was marked with a 4d price tag, meaning it has to be more than 47 years old as Britain changed to decimal currency in 1971.

The Sqezy bottle was badly damaged and had clearly been burned in a fire, probably on the beach, many years ago. However, enough of the bottle remained to clearly see the company logo and the 4d price tag.

The oldest find previously by Beach Buddies’ volunteers on Manx beaches was a Coca Cola drinks can discovered on Ballaugh beach, dating back to 1987.

The discovery of the distinctive black, white and yellow Sqezy bottle follows news that another plastic washing-up liquid bottle was found a few days earlier on a beach in Somerset.

The Fairy Liquid bottle was found on Brean Beach during seasonal high tides.

It was marked ’4d off’, dating it also before Britain changed to decimalisation.

A spokesman for Beach Buddies said: ’We find any number of very old plastic bottles and drinks cans, but it’s rare to discover one which can be dated, as they have been floating around in the ocean for decades and the signage has usually worn away. To find a bottle this old is quite amazing.

’The big question is: are these two finds the oldest pieces of plastic ever found on British beaches?’

FIM Capital sponsors Beach Buddies.