COPIOUS amounts of litter was collected from Sandbanks Beach on the hottest day of the year by one local resident.

Becky Lever, who lives near Poole Park, has picked up litter across her community for around four years in a bid to keep Poole free from litter.

However, when she ventured down to the beach on the evening of Friday, July 31, she discovered rubbish left strewn across the beach.

Becky carried eight sacks brimming with rubbish back to her house and spent a sunny Sunday afternoon in her garden sorting through it all.

She explained the extent of the litter left behind: "It was horrific. There was so much stuff I had to leave some and pick it up on my way back. I was so upset to see such disregard for this beautiful place."

After a long evening on the beach, Becky collected five glass bottles, 24 plastic bottles, 10 cans, 30 toys, two barbecues, two shoes, 19 cups, three balls, one cup lid, an unopened back of 20 sausages, seven plastic containers and 28 bottle lids.

She also collected 10 metal caps, 15 pieces of hard plastic, two masks, countless soft plastics, countless wet wipes, 15 crisp packets, four sandwich packets, six cigarette butts, one lighter, one ceramic bowl, five pieces of plastic cutlery, two lolly sticks, one rope, one clothing, 26 sweet/chocolate wrappers and seven sauce sachets, amongst many beach toys.

For Becky, the long-standing issue of littering stems back further than there not being enough bins in popular beauty spots such as Sandbanks Beach.

Becky said: "There has been an issue for a long time. During lockdown, we saw the best in society as places were kept clean and we enjoyed seeing less, so now it all seems a lot more. The problem is more than littering, it's also buying things we don't need.

"A whole systemic change is needed."