What should have been a routine training exercise ended up with a Miss Isle of Man contestant becoming an advocate for clearing beaches and cutting down on single-use plastics.

Shannon Greenwood collected 185 plastic bottles from hidden beaches and coves between Port Erin and the Sound during a kayak training session and said that that was only a fraction of the rubbish that she saw there.

Along with kayak instructor George Shaw, from Sea Kayaking Isle of Man, they loaded up their kayaks with the plastic rubbish on returning from the Sound.

Shannon, 19, who is in training to complete a physical challenge as part of her entry in the Miss Isle of Man Community Challenge competition, said: ’We went out in the kayaks and just started to collect the bottles I noticed lying around on the beaches and floating on the water. I never thought we’d find that many.

’The point of the trip was that I’m just training, which I started three weeks ago. During one of my first trips out on a kayak, we went to Port Jack beach, and it was full of rubbish. I thought it would be really cool if I could collect it all.

’George suggested we could make it a point each time we go out. We originally thought maybe ten pieces of rubbish each time.

’But then we found 185 pieces of plastic rubbish and bottles. We stopped off at all the little beaches between Port Erin and the Sound, places that you can’t really get to on foot and I realised that the only way they will ever get clean is if we, people who kayak or go out on boats, clean them ourselves.

’There are three or four little coves. We emptied them out onto Port Erin Beach in front of all these people, and we had to go and find bags to put them in before we took them to a recycling bin. We got so much stuff but we left so much more. That really annoyed me that we couldn’t get any more rubbish. There was loads. It is shocking, really.’

Shannon is in training to complete a journey by kayak along the coast from Ramsey to Cornaa, which she will attempt next weekend.

As part of her involvement in the MIss Isle of Man challenge, she has to raise funds for a nominated charity.

’My charity I am fundraising for is actually Cruse Bereavement, which is nothing to do with plastics,’ she said. ’But this whole experience has opened my eyes up to so many things and now I am also looking at the litter in the water. I thought I could help out Beach Buddies with a little bit of awareness raising at the same time.

’These bottles last forever. I don’t want our children’s children living on beaches covered in plastic bottles, and the scary reality is that that isn’t so far away before that happens.’

’Now, when I do the challenge, I’ll be collecting more bottles as we go.’

To follow Shannon’s fund raising efforts, visit her ’Shannon Greenwood for Miss Isle of Man’ Facebook page.