Hannah: Litter picking and keeping South Devon’s coastline clean

About a year ago Hannah Beaumont left picturesque Yorkshire for the sea kissed town of South Devon in the United Kingdom. When she arrived, she expected miles long coastline with magnificent waves caressing the azure sky to welcome her. Instead, she was accosted by cigarette butts, plastic bottles, and other detritus that punctuated not only South Devon’s beautiful beaches but also its residential areas. Angered by the amount of garbage around her, the 24-year-old promptly invested in gloves, litter picker and garbage bags and started cleaning her neighbourhood. Today, along with other voluntary groups, Hannah has expanded her litter picking perimeter and is using art made of trash to create awareness about the harmful impacts of littering.  

In conversation with TAL, Hannah talks about her grandparents inspiring her to keep her surroundings clean, creating art out of waste, and the importance of eco-friendly garbage disposal mechanisms. 

Before we begin talking about your litter picking adventure, please tell us something about yourself.   

I am from Yorkshire but moved to South Devon, UK last year. I’m 24 and employed as a charity support worker. Besides beach cleaning and litter picking, I enjoy running, photography and studying for an open university degree. 

What prompted you to take up cleaning gear and start tidying your surroundings? Any particular incident?

I used to litter pick the local park at my previous home in Yorkshire inspired by my Grandad and late Grandma who used to go on daily walks in the countryside picking up the garbage thrown from cars. After moving to Devon, the rubbish floating in the harbour made me think about doing my bit to clean my surroundings. Then a local seal was spotted with a plastic bag around its neck, and that incident pushed me to take action.   

How bad is the garbage problem in your town? Why, despite the ready availability of garbage disposal mechanisms, do you think people still litter?   

Luckily, we have a regular street cleaner who walks around the main town and does an excellent job. However, on the more residential streets, litter still lurks especially cigarette butts. I think people are just lazy and do not understand the impact they are having on the environment. 

How do you go about cleaning? What do you do with the rubbish you collect?  

Before starting, I always wear my gloves and make sure I have a clean litter picker. I tend to go to different places every day, but I always head to the beach to see what the tide brings in after a storm. My local council lets me leave the rubbish I collect by any of their bins, and the workers always give me more bin bags if I’m passing. When I know I have a lot of recycling, I take it home or put it in the local bottle bank. I also take some of the more interesting items home to make into art.

I collect a lot of cigarette butts, plastic bottles and also PPE. On a good day, the litter I collect fills one full garbage bag. Other days when cleaning the breakwater or beach, I can get six or seven bags of rubbish without even trying!

Before embarking on this project, did you contact your local council to help you out?  

I only contacted the council once for some bags; now whenever I email them they never respond so if I can’t find a council worker, I buy my own bags. All my equipment (bags, bag hoop, picker, gloves, hand sanitiser) come from my own pocket. I am going to set up a fundraiser for a good quality pocket knife this year.   

Garbage and the sea are also your muses. How do the two inspire your art?  

The artwork I create makes up for a small proportion of my litter picking activity. However, I hope when people see a whale or a seal made of trash, it will encourage them to take the consequences of littering seriously. Maybe they will dig deeper and realise how harmful their callous garbage throwing behaviour is. 

I also want my art to create more awareness about the garbage problem. This year, with a few local voluntary groups, I hope to build a sculpture using the items we find while litter picking.

Many would like to do something about the litter but are hesitant to pick up others’ waste, what advice would you give them or those looking to reduce their waste generation?

If you want to help, start with getting some gloves and garbage bags. Just walk around your neighbourhood and see what good you can accomplish in a short time.

Follow Hannah on Instagram.