Brighton beach litter cleared by silent disco dancers

More than 70kg of rubbish has been removed from Brighton beach by volunteers in a silent disco beach-clean.

About 100 people cleared the three-quarter mile stretch between the West and Palace piers between 12:00 BST and 14:00 on Sunday.

Organisers blamed a lack of rubbish bins for the amount of litter.

Brighton and Hove City council said its staff had cleared 23 tonnes of litter over the weekend.

A council spokesman said: "The work of anyone who carries out beach cleans is important in helping keep our beautiful seafront clean."

An estimated 150,000 people descended on the city on Saturday, which was the hottest day of the year so far.

Volunteers were given a choice of three music channels available through headphones so they could "dance their way to a cleaner Brighton beach".

Amy Gibson, from the Pier 2 Pier Beach Clean, said the beach was "just covered" in litter when she visited the shoreline at about 06:00 on Sunday.

She said: "We're trying to provide something fun and positive to help people take action and feel a bit less overwhelmed by it all.

"People are trying to put their bags in the bins, and their recycling, but there are no bins for them."

Ms Gibson said many people were "not taking ownership of their litter" and were just leaving it on the beach.

"We're trying to talk to people and help make a behaviour change."

A spokesman for the city council said: "We value the work Pier 2 Pier do with their beach cleans, and 70kg is an impressive amount to collect."

He said council staff worked between 05:00 and 22:00 on both Saturday and Sunday.

"We can all do as much as we can, but we must also continually stress that people visiting our beach must take their rubbish with them and either find a bin or take it home," he added.