Sussex woman 'close to tears’ after finding beach covered in rubbish and bins overflowing after hot weather
A video filmed by a resident shows a Sussex beach covered in litter and seagulls picking at rubbish near full bins.
A Sussex resident has been left 'heartbroken' by the state of her seafront after crowds flocked to the coast at the weekend.
Sammie Aplin, 33, was shocked when she made her way down to Brighton seafront on June 22 and saw the amount of rubbish.
With the sun shining on the town, the beach was packed on what was recorded as the hottest day of the year.
The litter picker, who was "close to tears", shared a video on her social media after plastic bottles, drink cans, rubber dinghies, flipflops and even an insulin pen were left on the pebbles.
Seagulls could also be seen pulling litter out of full bins and picking rubbish from the ground.
In the video, she asks, "what are we teaching the kids of today?", as she collected multiple sandpit toys.
Samie said she was left "heartbroken and overwhelmed" and didn't know where to start.
After collecting as much rubbish as possible, Sammie cleaned some of the toys and will be donating them to charity.
She said: "I knew it would be bad today but it's still heartbreaking every time it happens.
"Brighton and Hove have hundreds of bins along the seafront, people just can't be bothered to carry back their rubbish."
Her video published on her Instagram page - @the_plastic_coast - attracted multiple comments from furious accounts condemning the mess left on the beach.
One person said: "I used to think this was down to a lack of awareness, but it’s not an excuse anymore. It’s a lazy, selfish act of entitlement. People who just assume someone else will sort it out.”
Another said the situation was similar in Bournemouth: "Same here in Bournemouth… tourists in their thousands come to our beaches and leave a complete mess behind."
Another person said: "It’s quite embarrassing actually, that this is how the British general public act when the sun comes out. Every summer it gets like this and every summer I question my choice to live in this city."
Another said: "Absolutely heartbreaking. You put so much effort into cleaning up, and it’s undone in a matter of seconds. I wonder what it would take to change people's mindset."
Have you got a video you want to share with our readers? You can now send it to us online via YourWorld at https://www.yourworld.net/submit/ It's free to use and, once checked, your footage will appear on our website.