SURFERS Against Sewage are calling for volunteers to help clean three South Hams beaches, as part of their sixth autumn beach clean.

Strete Gate at Slapton Sands and Mill Bay at East Portlemouth will all be given an autumn clean during the October half-term week, between Monday, October 24 until Friday, October 30.

This is the first time that these beaches will have been cleaned by SAS, and they’re hoping to get as many people as possible involved.

They are also calling for people to set up other local beach cleans, and can provide support and various resources to do this. They also have plans to give a number of talks on marine litter and other topics, to schools and community groups.

Set to be the biggest autumn beach clean series yet, SAS expect more than 4,500 volunteers nationally to join their local lead volunteer to sweep over 15 tonnes of marine litter from 200 beaches across the UK coastline.

Marine litter is perhaps the most significant threat to our oceans today. It is an environmental problem on a global scale and adversely impacts wildlife, the economy and human health.

Every stretch of the coastline in every ocean is affected by marine litter, it is present through all layers of water, floating at the surface, suspended in the water column and of course, washed up on our beaches. There may be around 5.25 trillion macro and micro-plastic pieces floating in the open ocean - weighing up to 269,000 tonnes.

Marine litter is a man-made problem yet has a detrimental impact on the environment and the wildlife that encounters it. At least 267 different marine species have suffered as a consequence of contact with marine litter. There is no doubt that more must be done by each and every one of us and SAS intend to lead from the front.

Dom Ferris, SAS’s projects manager said: ‘Five incredible years of the autumn beach clean series has enabled almost 8,500 amazing volunteers to remove over 25 tonnes of marine litter from 333 of our precious beaches, often braving extremely challenging weather. Our incredible lead volunteers are the driving force behind this and we can’t wait to welcome even more of them to the SAS family in 2016.’

The beach clean at Strete Gate, Slapton Sounds will take place on Wednesday, October 26, between 10am and 12pm - meet in the kiosk near the toilets.

Mill Bay, East Portlemouth beach clean will be on Thursday, October 27, between 10am and 12pm - meet at the south end of the beach, nearest the National Trust car park.

Hot drinks will be available for volunteers.

To register your own autumn beach clean, email [email protected] or call 01872 553001.

For further information, or to arrange a talk, contact the South Hams local rep, Gillian Horsley on 01548 531351 or email [email protected].