Britain’s most beautiful beaches drowning in 14,000 polystyrene body boards dumped by tourists flocking to Devon and Cornwall for the summer

  • Tens of thousands of polystyrene bodyboards are being dumped holidaymakers 
  • Campaigners think 14,000 of them are being abandoned on beaches each year
  • In a single month, volunteers retrieved more than 600 from just three beaches

By Simon Murphy for The Mail on Sunday

Published: | Updated:

An astonishing new tide of plastic waste is threatening Britain’s beautiful coastline – tens of thousands of polystyrene bodyboards dumped by thoughtless holidaymakers.

Campaigners believe a remarkable 14,000 of them are being abandoned each year on beaches in the South West alone.

And in a single month, volunteers retrieved more than 600 from just three beaches – Croyde Bay in Devon and Summerleaze and Widemouth Bay in Cornwall.

Discarded bodyboards piled up on a Cornish beach. Campaigners think 14,000 of them are being abandoned on beaches each year

Discarded bodyboards piled up on a Cornish beach. Campaigners think 14,000 of them are being abandoned on beaches each year

The continued surge in the popularity of bodyboarding and this year’s hot summer are likely to make the problem even worse.

Many of the boards are made in China and sold for as little as £5.99. They are so flimsy they often snap within minutes.

When they break, polystyrene beads are scattered on to the sand, posing a big risk to wildlife.

Former Spice Girl Geri Horner was criticised on social media just last week after posting a snap of herself holding one of the boards on a Cornish break with husband Christian and their 18-month-old son Montague – though there is no suggestion she discarded it.

Many of the boards that cause the problem are brightly coloured and decorated with cartoon characters to appeal to youngsters.

Neil Hembrow, from Wave Against Waste, a campaign organised by the charity Keep Britain Tidy’s beachcare programme, said: ‘These boards are basically used either to surf down the sand dunes, where they snap and are left, or they snap after being hit by one or two waves because they’re only 2in thick.’

Former spice girl Geri Halliwell and her family with one of the bodyboards 

Former spice girl Geri Halliwell and her family with one of the bodyboards 

Polystyrene balls spilt from bodyboards scattered on Bude beach in North Devon

Polystyrene balls spilt from bodyboards scattered on Bude beach in North Devon

The 43-year-old campaigner and keen surfer urged holidaymakers to rent or buy sturdier versions.

‘We actually found some bodyboards left on the beach still in their wrappers,’ he added.

‘People had bought them, wedged them into their cars and they had snapped. The problem with expanded polystyrene is it’s a plastic and, if these boards split, you get hundreds of polystyrene balls that can spill out. They will float round our oceans and the potential for damage to marine life is huge.’

Mother-of-two Deb Rosser, 54, a primary school teacher from Bude, North Cornwall, volunteers to help clear rubbish from local beaches.

She said: ‘It’s a problem that’s not going to go away unless we raise the issue with the producers, the suppliers, the buyers, the shopkeepers and the public. These cheap bodyboards are always colourful and have got pictures of sharks and dolphins on them.

‘They’re pink for the girls, blue for the boys.

‘That is done because if you take eight-year-olds into a shop, they’re the ones they’re going to want. It’s very clever marketing to appeal to children.’

A spokesman for Cornwall Council said that recovered boards were incinerated, adding: ‘If people do purchase polystyrene boards, we would encourage them to take them home with them.’

 

Most watched News videos