Photos showing Portobello beach covered in discarded bottles, beer cans and other litter have emerged on Twitter after the Easter bank holiday weekend saw temperatures soar to over 23°C.
Twitter user Sarah (@share_sare) shared photos of the mess saying:
"Absolute disgrace. Beaches around Portobello Prom strewn with litter mostly beer cans, # plasticpollution # bottles. People should be ashamed of themselves."
In the photos, you can see takeaway containers, crisp packets and chocolate bar wrappers, along with many plastic bottles, glass bottles and discarded beer cans.
The photos also show a little girl with a black bin liner, presumably helping to tidy up the mess.
Another person took to social media to share a petition about the mess. The petition reads :
"More bins and recycling points for Portobello Beach.
"Problem being the disgusting amount of rubbish left on the beach, the prom, overflowing bins and stuff left behind.
Adders are starting to come out of hibernation and people are urged to be careful around them
"The hope is to get Edinburgh Council to put recycling points along the busiest stretches of Portobello Promenade to encourage recycling of plastic and glass mostly!
"There is also the need desperate need for more bins during the warm days as the beach is packed and the current bins fill up by midday.
"We all have a moral obligation given all we know about climate change to do something and this is mine. I cannot go out every night and single handed clean the beach but have done it. Please please don’t let all this stuff be washed out to sea everyday."
To sign the petition, click here .
Now you see it, now you don’t - viral "Trashtag Challenge" encourages mass clean-up in Edinburgh
Councillor Lesley Macinnes, Transport and Environment Convener, said:
“It’s always great to see our beautiful parks and beaches full of people enjoying the sunshine, but what’s not so great is the amount of litter left behind. If you’re having a picnic, please make sure you use the litter bins provided – or, if they’re already full, take your rubbish away home with you.
“Lots of communities across the city are pitching in and Now you see it, now you don’t - viral "Trashtag Challenge" encourages mass clean-up in Edinburgh, which really helps boost the Council’s £10m-a-year work to keep the Capital clean. However, if more people binned their litter properly in the first place, the city would be a much nicer place for everyone.”
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