TRY putting yourself in the place of the volunteer Penarth Society Beach Wardens who freely give up their time with no thought of any reward to go down on to Penarth Beach each week to clear away the rubbish that comes in on the tide or is left by unthinking visitors, only to read in the Penarth Times that actually it’s some television personality called Kate Humble who is responsible for keeping the beach clear of litter. The efforts that the Beach Wardens have been putting in throughout the year are as nothing to the achievements of the wonderful Kate and her jolly band of followers of the Barefoot Wine company and the Surfers Against Sewage organisation on just one day out of the whole 365 on which litter of every sort, much of it thoroughly disgusting, is daily being dumped on the beach.

So, presumably, the people of Penarth would be much better served if the Beach Wardens didn’t bother in future but left it to Kate & Co who will doubtless be back again next week and every week thereafter to ensure the litter doesn’t build up. This is important as our experiments have shown that the longest you can leave the beach without it becoming unacceptably rubbish-strewn is about two weeks, less in the peak Summer season. So cleaning the litter from a beach like Penarth once a year is of virtually no value at all. But then I’m sure Kate’s group will be a regular weekly fixture from now on and the Beach Wardens can look for another beach to help.

Chris Wyatt

Project Leader

Penarth Society Beach Wardens