Campaign urges visitors to the coast to use the bin not the beach

Use the bin and not the beach is one of the simple but hard-hitting messages behind this summer’s anti-littering campaign along the district’s coastline.

As the school holidays get underway, the signs will also urge beach users to take their litter with them rather than leaving it behind for others to clear up.

More than 150 signs have been produced and will be placed in littering hotspots.

Cllr Chris Cornell, Cabinet Member for Coastal Towns, said: “These signs are designed to remind people enjoying our 14 miles of coastline from Seasalter to Reculver they should treat it with respect and not spoil it for everyone else.

“We all know it is a jewel in the district’s crown and it really doesn’t take much to keep it that way by putting your rubbish in the next empty bin.

“And don’t forget, if you get caught dropping litter you could be issued with a £150 fine. 

“The signs are just one aspect of our plan to tackle littering by the sea.”

The council has 912 litter and dog bins along its coastline that are emptied up to nine times a day by crews that work between 4.30am and 8.30pm.

In 2019, it installed 27 bigger 110-litre bins at Tankerton replacing the existing 22 65-litre bins.

It replaced all the Herne Bay High Street litter bins with new bins due to poor condition and also installed a few extra bins around and close to car parks and new bins at Whitstable Harbour. 

Last year the council installed eight new litter bins on Herne Bay Pier to replace the six which were onsite.

Again this year, extra 1,100-litre bins have been put in place at the following locations:

• Keam’s Yard in Whitstable
• near the ice cream van and RNLI lifeboat station at Whitstable Harbour and near the Harbour Market
• the picnic area at Hampton
• by the Clock Tower plaza in Herne Bay
• near the ice cream parlour in Marine Parade, Tankerton.

They are clearly signed and are emptied Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and twice on Saturday and twice on Sunday depending upon demand. 

Again this year, the council has provided additional tipping capacity with a mobile compactor in a Herne Bay car park. 

This allows the vehicles that empty the litter bins to dump bags of waste without travelling to and from the tip at Hersden cutting two to four trips a day.

This saves time and means crews can focus on emptying the litter bins and keeping the area tidy.

Cllr Cornell said: “We’ve all seen the pictures on social media of the mess people leave behind and we’re fighting hard to make those images a thing of the past.

“During the long summer evenings, people enjoy the beach until it gets dark and it’s simply not safe for crews to litter pick at that time of night.

“When our early crews start it takes them a while to work their way up the coast which can mean those who are out first thing are greeted with a rather unpleasant scene.

“If some people were a little less selfish and did the right thing, we wouldn’t need to race to clear up after them and spend huge amounts of council taxpayers’ money that could be used elsewhere.” 

Councillors are exploring other options too like even bigger litter bins and installing recycling bins.

The council is working closely with the community environmental groups that play a huge role in keeping our beaches clean – something the council really thanks them for.

Tackling littering is a key component of the council’s Coastal Management Plan for 2023 which has just been launched. 

Published: 28 July 2023