Volunteers save the Whale (Island) in plastic clear-up

Plastics don’t just ruin paradise. They ruin port cities as well.

Two dozen volunteers from HMS Excellent hit the shoreline of Whale Island on the back of World Ocean’s Day to do their bit for the environment.

The mostly man-made island – home to the Royal Navy’s headquarters, the Phoenix Damage Control School, accommodation blocks, reservist unit HMS King Alfred, and retired destroyer HMS Bristol among others – has around one and half miles of shoreline, plagued by regular deposits of rubbish washed into Portsmouth Harbour.

Volunteers braved the pouring rain to carry out a beach clean around the perimeter fence and beaches.

“Beach clearances are a critically-important part of life these days with plastic being the primary source of pollution from bottle tops to straws to ring pulls,” said Ian Mackfall, HMS Excellent’s environmental manager.

“It is necessary to keep our beaches clean if we hope to keep our oceans clean.”

In just an hour he and his team of volunteers filled 30 sacks with rubbish, flotsam and jetsam from the shoreline.