THE ‘Big TT Tidy Up’ saw a large number of new volunteers join in the campaign on Monday in Braddan, making a massive difference to the TT course, the Access Road and the Heritage Trail.
However, the event led to a strong message being sent out to dog owners about the high levels of plastic bags with dog waste being found during the 90-minute clean up.
Hundreds of plastic bags full of dog waste were found by the volunteers with the Heritage Trail, in particular, found to have huge numbers of the bags, together with a wide variety of rubbish dumped by the public over what is believed to be several years.
Among the more unusual items found by the 38 volunteers was a complete child’s scooter, a full gas canister, car tyres, road signs, a spirit level, a bag full of clothes and a pram. In total, the rubbish collected weighed a massive 340kg.
However, the majority of the items amongst the 26 bin bags of rubbish were small plastic bags full of dog waste. ‘This is simply not acceptable,’ said Beach Buddies organiser Bill Dale. ‘Clearly, the dog owners have done the right thing and taken the trouble to clear up the dog waste after their pets, but then - incredibly - they have thrown the plastic bag into the undergrowth alongside the path.
‘It doesn’t make any sense. In fact, it would actually be better not to collect the dog waste at all in the first place, because it will eventually decompose, whereas a plastic bag can take up to 20 years or more.’
Braddan Commissioners are the first local authority to join in the ‘Big TT Tidy Up’ campaign and joined in to clean three different areas near Braddan, plus the Old Castletown Road, with board members and staff taking part in the event.
They were also joined by the area’s MHK, Howard Quayle, who said: ‘This event was a credit to the commissioners’ progressive attitude. I really enjoyed the evening, but was genuinely shocked by how much litter we collected. Our bin bags were full by the end of the event.
‘We live on such a beautiful island it’s such a shame people don’t respect it. I hope that campaigns like this one make people more aware that they should pick up after themselves and their dogs.”
Colin Whiteway, clerk to the commissioners, said: ‘It was really good to see so many local residents joining in and showing how much they care about their environment. It made a really noticeable difference and leaves the area looking really good for our TT visitors.
‘There was certainly a lot of enthusiasm to repeat a similar event again in the future, and we are thinking about doing this again prior to the Manx Grand Prix. It was very worthwhile and the feedback from the volunteers was very positive.’
Andrew Jessopp, vice chairman of the commissioners, thanked the volunteers for turning out for the event and hoped that the community would react positively to it and help organise similar events in the future. He added: ‘It would be appreciated if members of the public would use the litter bins provided or take waste home rather than throwing litter out of vehicles.’
