Plea for responsible use of bins around island's coast

A charity dedicated to beach cleaning on the Isle of Man has urged people to use its 50 coastal bins "responsibly" after a "growing trend" of misuse in some areas.

The plea from Beach Buddies comes after 13 bags of used cat litter were left in one of their containers, earmarked for litter washed up on the shore, at Smeale in Andreas.

Founder Bill Dale said while many of the bins were being filled with items picked up along the coastline, "too many people" were now leaving domestic rubbish in them.

"It's reached a point where we have to say something and maybe people will think twice before they do this again," he said.

Launched in 2006, Beach Buddies volunteers collect about 200 tonnes of waste each year from the island's beaches and surrounding areas.

The organisation said its members had taken the bags of cat litter waste, which were found last month, out of the bin and left them alongside it "to send a message that it’s not our job to dispose of such items".

After two more bags were added to in the area next to the container in the north, Mr Dale said he felt the need to make a plea "to stop this happening, not just at Smeale, but in any of the 50 bins we empty every week all around the island’s coastline".

He said the organisation had noticed a "growing trend" in recent months of "large amounts of rubbish, which was clearly from people’s homes, being dumped" into the bins.

Mr Dale said that was making "our work much more difficult and time consuming" as the the bins were "filling up far more quickly than they should and it's got to stop".

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