By Isle of Wight ObserverAn environmental activist has removed two dangerous monstrosities from our shores.
On Thursday (August 16) Sam Carter–Knight found a rusted metal object protruding from the sand at Priory Beach, Seaview.
He removed what appears to be the remains of a shopping trolley and posted the pictures to his Facebook page WightShores. After posting the picture he received word another trolley was invading our shores.
The 23-year-old said: “Then I had a message saying there was a shopping trolly wrapped around one of the pier columns at Ryde and the lady could not get it out. Within the hour I got it out.”
The Ryde resident has already rid our beautiful beaches of 55 lbs of garbage in just four weeks thanks to his social media enterprising skills.
He started WightShores in July to help connect like-minded individuals who loathe litter on our coastline.
He said: “I have always had a passion for wildlife and the environment but never really pursued it until I found out some interesting facts. The more I read into it, the more I was horrified by the things I was finding out; 90% of plastic trash is found in sea birds, 91% of plastic is not recycled and 46,000 pieces of plastic are floating in every square mile of the ocean.
“Living on the Isle of Wight I turned my conservation work to the ocean. I started by looking for Facebook groups for other conservationists and found nothing but a few beach clean volunteer groups, so I decided to make my own, Wight Shores.
“After just two weeks I had 433 members and had removed 55 lbs of trash off the Island’s beaches and met some great people by volunteering to help clean at Tackt-Isle Adventures beach clean and volunteering for the Wildlife Trust.
“I have since had people message me wanting to help and Wight Shores are now cleaning four beaches for the Isle of Wight Day coastal clean up and have arranged for a further four beaches to be cleaned.
“My dream is to raise awareness and just to get everyone to stop, slow down, and think about the impact we have on nature and the environment. Going forward, I hope to achieve this by doing educational talks getting people out in nature and several events like beach cleans.”
You can find Sam on Facebook & Instagram @wightshores
