Litter at school campus branded 'utter shambles'

The volume of litter at a secondary school campus has been branded an "utter shambles" by a volunteer group after its members cleared up rubbish including 415 plastic bottles.

About 50 members of Beach Buddies took part in the clear-up around St Ninian's Lower School at Bemahague, in Onchan, collecting about 331lbs (150kg) of litter.

Founder Bill Dale said it was "disappointing" to see the area in an "absolute mess" and the situation highlighted the continued need to educate children about the danger littering posed to the environment.

The school and the education department have been contacted for response.

Following the group's efforts on Sunday, Mr Dale said there was a "psychology" that once a place is clean, people would be less likely to "drop the next piece of litter", because it would stand out.

However, he said if there were "already piles of rubbish around", there was a perception that discarding a "few more bits doesn't seem to matter".

He said the items retrieved included plastic bottles, sweet, chocolate and crisp wrappers, tin cans and fast food packaging, which indicated the rubbish was likely dropped by pupils.

He said the charity regularly visits schools across the island to promote the "responsible disposal" of litter through its education programme, but had not visited St Ninian's Lower School "in a few years".

Although the education programme had been "massively successful", particularly with primary schools, the situation at the Bemahague site had been reported to Beach Buddies by a member of Friends of the Earth Isle of Man, Mr Dale said.

It was was "an utter shambles and heart-breaking" to find one school in "such a mess", he continued.

A meeting with the school had been organised for next week to find a way to "make sure this does not happen again".

It was important to speak out now to prevent the island going "seriously backwards" in its mindset towards littering, he said.

However he said it did not mean the island was "not still regarded as a fantastic example to the rest of the world as to how a community can get together and make a difference", he added.

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