Whilst Filey’s award-winning beach is among the cleanest in the country, a lot of work goes on to keep it in its pristine condition. Recently volunteers found a packet dating from 1997 on the beach near Coble Landing! It was part of 24Kg of rubbish removed from the beach. In a 100m survey area were fifty-seven cigarette butts, thirteen cable ties and the packet dated 1997.

The Yorkshire Wild Life Trust’s ‘Waves of Waste’ programme supports regular beach cleans by volunteers along the entire Yorkshire coastline. During each beach clean the litter collected is recorded, fed into a national database collated by the Marine Conservation Society and locally analysed to determine trends occurring.

Last year volunteer beach cleaners carried out seventy-two sweeps on the Yorkshire Coast removing over ninety sacks of rubbish. The Yorkshire Wildlife trust says the ‘Waves of Waste’ project has been supported by over 1,200 volunteers.

In 2019 the top ten items the volunteers collected from Yorkshire’s beaches were:
1. Plastic/polystyrene pieces
2. Cigarette butts
3. String/cord/rope/net
4. Packets (crisps, sweets, lolly’s etc.)
5. Glass
6. Fishing line
7. Wet wipes
8. Plastic bags
9. Cloth (clothing, shoes, towels etc.)
10. Caps and lids

There are further beach cleans taking place in Scarborough, Filey and Bridlington throughout the year. The next ‘Waves of Waste’ beach clean at Filey is on Sunday, 23 February at 10am. Meet at the slipway adjacent to Holdsworth’s Amusements. Please wear suitable clothing and footwear. Litter pickers, bags and gloves can be provided.