Can Scarborough be a plastic-free community?

Steve Crawford, of Fluid Concept Surfing, has officially been part of a campaign to keep beaches clean and cut down on plastic for almost a decade.

As Scarborough’s representative for Surfers Against Sewage, Steve wants to prevent litter dropping so beach cleans are no longer so necessary.

“The real problem is during the summer when the tourists arrive,” said Steve. “Every year it’s just heartbreaking to see. People just leave items and the tide comes in and it just goes straight into the sea.

“People buy cheap buckets and spades, they discard the netting straight away and then they leave the bucket and spade because they’re so cheap.

“It’s just mind numbing.”

Surfers Against Sewage is campaigning to create Plastic Free Communities across the UK and it is something Steve is looking to implement in Scarborough.

He said: “Plastic Free Coastlines is about making whole communities get together where we make a real change for businesses, individuals, the council is even trying to do a bit of their own thing as well.

“It’s really good that everyone is getting on board with this.”He said there are changes individuals can implement which will make a difference.

“One thing we can do now is start being aware of what we are buying and what consumers are selling as well.

“The real trick is if it’s not in your hands you can’t throw it on the beach.

“So basically don’t buy things you don’t need the plastic for. Coffee cups are a massive one. Take your own cup in and they’ll refill it for you.

“One thing Oasis Cafe have said is that if you take a container down there they will put your chips in a container and you don’t need a styrofoam cup.” Steve hosts beach cleans throughout the year with the next one due to take place on Sunday March 4 at noon.

But Steve goes above and beyond to clean up the beach and sea. In good conditions he searches the shoreline for litter from his paddle board.

He said: “I’ve been paddle boarding for a long time and I just started picking things up.

“We go to Flamborough a couple of times a year and go into the little caves that aren’t accessible from the land and collect litter from there to take back to North Landing.”