COMMENT: Well done to those who helped set beach record

There is no doubt indeed that the green message is getting across. More people than ever, both locally and nationally, are determined to do their bit to help the environment. Â

We all know how public-spirited the Portsmouth region is. Every day we carry stories highlighting all that is good about our local communities and the people who live in them.

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that so many of you turned out for September's Great Solent British Beach Clean events across this paper's patch.

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Helped no doubt by an increasing awareness of the '˜war' being waged against single-use plastics, a record figure of 834 attended events at places such as Southsea, Portchester and Hayling Island.

For comparison purposes, just 188 people took part in 2017.

Nationally, around 15,000 people took part in Great Beach Clean events, compared to around 7,000 12 months earlier.

That made it the UK's largest mass participation beach clean event ever.

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Those figures impressively illustrate just how far, and how quickly, the green message is travelling.

That's obviously helped by the so-called '˜Blue Planet effect' after the David Attenborough-fronted BBC show revealed the shocking state of our oceans in 2017.

Yet it goes without saying that the '˜war' previously mentioned is a long, long, long way from being won.

It is admirable that so many local people and local companies are doing their best to end their use of single-use plastics. Every little helps, and all that.

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Some, obviously, can do more to help than others '“ supermarkets, fast food restaurants etc.

Is it wonderful to report the local efforts being made, but the plastic problem is a global one requiring a concerted global effort '“ lasting decades, not just years '“ if we are to ever win the '˜war' ...

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