Friends of Redcar Beach Action Group November 2013 at Zetland The Stray

What initially looked to be very blustery turned out to be a beautifully mild and clear morning and another very productive litter pick was carried out by Friends of Redcar (FRED) on The Stray on Redcar Beach.

Ten volunteers including an employee from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council (RCBC) turned up and concentrated their efforts on litter picking from the Zetland Roundabout slipway up to parallel with The Stray Café. This included the groynes and the sand dunes. 

The Stray from Zetland Slipway looking towards Saltburn

Amongst many items collected were ropes and netting from fishing vessels, bottle caps, a couple of left shoes(?), blue taprogge balls from Hartlepool Nuclear plant, cotton bud sticks and sanitary items that are flushed down the toilet and float back onto our beach.

Found on our beach, blue 'taprogge' balls courtesy of Hartlepool Nuclear Plant and Cotton Bud sticks

What is very noticeable in the Zetland area is that the large amounts of building material, left over by Birse Civil when the Coastal Defences were built, appears to have increased as more and more is becoming revealed by dissipating sand. 

Rubble that had been buried is being exposed all over Redcar beach. Polypropylene fibres reveal much of this is from the new build by Birse Civil.

Are you going to bring your children here for a picnic?

Building material found sporadically all over the sea defences and bags of building sand amongst the masonry at Zetland

"The litter pick was very successful and we'd like to thank those who took part and to Paul Reed of RCBCs Neighbourhood Team for providing us with bags and pickers", said Carl Quartermain, Chairman of FRED, "Unfortunately we had to turn a blind eye to the fact that the some parts of the beach up here, just as it is in Coatham, is virtually a landfill site thanks to Birse Civil and effectively unusable by residents and visitors. We plan to carry out rubble picks here in the future"

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council took over 30 bags of beach litter away to be disposed of properly.

FRED continually campaigns for the removal of masonry on Redcar beach and carries out events to remove litter all year round. If you would like to become involved contact friendsofredcar@gmail.com and search on facebook and twitter.