Hartlepool Sixth Form College students take action to combat littering

Students from Hartlepool Sixth Form College, in Blakelock Road, worked in partnership with Seascapes, which is a sea and marine life conservation organisation.

Hartlepool students completed the beach clean alongside students at Sunderland College and Northumberland College as part of the Good for Me, Good for FE campaign, which drives forward a sustainable programme of community action across the UK.

Litter was picked at Seaton Carew, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea and Roker, in Sunderland.

Hartlepool Sixth Form College campus principal Jane Reed said: “It is so important for the sixth form to be supporting our local communities.

"We have a range of social action projects throughout the year and this one was especially planned for the summer.

"You can't book the weather but we have been very lucky indeed.”

Students took part in a range of activities at the beach including bird and wildlife talks and litter picking.

Speaking about their decision to litter pick, biology student Jacob Smart said: “Families bring their children here and we don’t want people littering here. The litter ends up back in the ocean and somewhere else.”

Biology students also carried out a survey to source the different types of litter that had been collected on the beach, with the results then being fed into a national database.

Louise Harrington, beach care officer for Seascapes, said: “If we didn’t do this, litter would end up in the sea eventually, which would either float to the bottom of the sea, which isn’t good for habitats and ecosystems, or it could get ingested by marine mammals and fish.

"We’ve also got the little terns here as well so any hazard that we can remove from the beach to protect the little terns and other seabirds is a bonus really.”

The terns have become a beloved part of the Seaton Carew landscape since their arrival in Hartlepool in 2019 after being chased from Crimdon Dene by crows.

Principal Reed said: "Conservation across our beautiful coastline is so important and we value the fact that our students should know about that too.”