Navy personnel and civilian staff recently took part in the Daily Mail’s Great Plastic Pick-Up at Tregantle.

Led by Chief Petty Officer Craig Brook-Hewitt, there were 75 members of the public and military personnel from HMS Raleigh and Devonport ships, visiting Tregantle beach to clean up any waste that had washed ashore.

Just on the cove called Blackie Ball, which is only accessible for 45 minutes between tides, the team managed to remove more than 25 bags of plastic alone before concentrating on the rest of the beach.

Scouring the beach, in total the team removed more than 40 bags of rubbish, multiple fishing trays, two tons of rope and much more.

CPO Brook-Hewitt does at least two beach cleans every month, and personally goes down every Sunday and brings at least a bag if not more each week.

Organised beach cleans are held twice a month and they usually attract between 20 to 30 volunteers who remove more than 20 bags a time, if not more.

CPO Brook-Hewitt said: ‘After cleaning the beach for over nine months now, this was the most successful one yet, removing over 45 bags of plastic, loads and loads of fishing crates and the biggest thing was a two ton section of netting wedged behind rocks.

‘After six and a half hours we reached a massive goal, beating all other beach cleans in the surrounding areas.

‘Local and military personnel efforts were outstanding. This continued effort will not only make our lives easier in the future but generations ahead of us.

Please support us and join our Facebook page and our next beach clean on June 24.’