MORE than 3,000 pieces of litter were picked up by one man in one road in Bournemouth following a hot weekend which saw thousands of people flock to the beach.
Peter Calladine, a volunteer at Dorset Devils, claims to have filled nine Ikea bags full of litter discarded in East Overcliff Drive from Sunday, July 17.
Peter also said the road was so filthy, two holidaymakers told him they’d never come to Bournemouth again because of the mess.
Peter, one of a thousand volunteers at litter-picking group Dorset Devils, said: “All sorts of unmentionable things were found that morning.
“The volume of the rubbish was terrible. The largest number of individual items I come across are small pieces of paper cigarette butts, which you might think are insignificant, but they really stand out.
“And I also pick up a lot of small pieces of cellophane from cigarette wrappers.
“In terms of bulk it's plastic bottles and glass bottles, fast food polystyrene packets and all the usual stuff you get from KFC and McDonald's.”
Peter litter picks along the seafront every morning, Monday to Friday, for about four hours.
“I’m down here at least once a day, very often twice. 7am to 9am then I have breakfast and come out again for a couple of hours.
“I do it because I live not far from here and I don’t like to see my local environment a mess.
“I’m also retired so I’d like to do something useful for the community – plus it keeps me active.”
On Sunday, East Overcliff Drive saw hundreds of beachgoers parking their cars, with many parked on the pavements and blocking way for ambulances and buses.
Many of the people who parked “selfishly” as one councillor described them would have likely dropped litter on the floor too.
Peter added: “You have to be extremely diplomatic when approaching people who drop litter.
“You never know if they're going to get stroppy, so I usually say ‘don't worry about that, I'll pick it up,’ and then they'll feel bad.
“I caught a couple the other day doing it and they were apologetic.”
Once Peter fills a bag, he puts the waste in a nearby council bin.
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