AN ARMY of keen volunteers led by television presenter and national wildlife campaigner Kate Humble swept Penarth beach looking for discarded rubbish on Friday afternoon.

The Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project, part of a nationwide initiative to keep the UK’s beaches ‘barefoot friendly’, was the last fixture in a coast-to-coast tour that took in 14 beaches over the summer months.

The team collected 249kg of rubbish from Penarth beach, bringing the total from the whole project to 1378kg.

Over the last seven years the project, launched with the Surfers Against Sewage, a registered charity that champions environmental causes such as the protection of the UK’s oceans, waves and beaches, has cleared more than a tonne of rubbish from beaches around the UK.

After collecting a Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project t-shirt and any necessary kit, volunteers spent the afternoon collecting litter before being rewarded for their efforts with a glass of Barefoot Wine.

Kate Humble, campaign ambassador for the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project, said she was blown away by Penarth beach.

She said it was a “wonderful” city beach and praised the recently renovated Penarth Pier Pavilion and traditional beach railings on the esplanade.

She added: “It’s a sad thing that even a beach as beautiful and lovely as this needs to be cleaned.

“The reality is that all beaches are under threat as a lot of people that come to beaches don’t pick up their rubbish when they leave.

“They seem to think the sea will do the job for them.”

She added that discarding rubbish on beaches, particularly plastic as it was not biodegradable, was not just a threat to the environment but to marine wildlife too.

“It’s the most important wildlife habitat we have got with more animals in than any national park anywhere,” she said.

“Every piece of litter dropped in the sea or on the beach has a terrible impact on wildlife and the environment. Plastic is the worst as it breaks down into small pieces and when wildlife see it bright and shiny they swallow it and it could kill them.”

She said that local community groups, such as Friends of Barry Beaches, that came out once a month to clean local beaches were “national heroes” and they were the ones that made a difference.

With more than 60 people donning gloves and filling black buckets full of rubbish, after combing the beach for nearly around two hours, she said it was one of the most well attended beach clean days she’d ever seen.

The Surfers Against Sewage charity cover every threat to the marine environment and beaches, and aim to reduce litter on the UK's beaches by 50 per cent by 2020.