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turns out you were right brian, just received this interesting piece from mel wrigley of wccp.
Hi Howard
We've explained to various people who have been in touch that the reason that so much litter was recored was that we had the largest number of volunteers, working all dayy collecting up lots of rubbish of all sizes.
There was lots and lots of smaller plastic rubbish items, many items have foreign writting on them. And we searched among the pebbles to pick it up. We were being really thorough and recording all the little things that we found.
So the largest number of bags of rubbish collected is really a positive thing becuase it shows how brilliant our local community are, we had about 63 dedicated volunteers, working all day. Including wccp vols, local guides, brownies, cubs and scouts, DHB employees, DDC employees all coming out as volunteers to do their bit for the local environment.
It is also a function of our local geography. We Have the narrowest part of the Dover Strait so the water is funnelled into a narrow area; we have the south-westerly prevailing winds blowing the seabourne rubbish up onto the beach that gets caught by the pier at the east end of the beach. DHB do regular beach cleans. And WCCP help do the MCS Beachwatch annual survey on the beach in partnership with DHB and dedicated volunteers from the local community, who want to keep their coast clean.
Sea bourne litter is an international and global problem, with enormous rafts of plastic litter formed in 5 main areas in the North and South Atlantic, North and South Paciifc and Indian oceans. It's worth Googling 'Plastic island oceans' to see this international problem and the problems these Texas- sized rafts of litter are causing for wildlife and in the long term human health.
Thanks
Mel