Figures show visitors to Brighton & Hove's beaches have left behind more than 300 tonnes of rubbish over the past three months.
Items such as bottles, cans, food wrapping and other plastics were left on the beach or beside overflowing bins along the seafront, despite calls from the council to take rubbish home or find another bin.
The report comes after last month's news that 30 tonnes of rubbish was found on the beach over just one weekend.
Enforcement officers have been patrolling the area, ready to hand out £150 fines and trying to educate visitors on environmental damage.
Councillor Amy Heley, chair of the council’s environment, transport and sustainability committee, said:
“These figures are truly shocking and show we face a daily battle to protect our beach from those who are happy to leave their rubbish behind.
“But there’s no excuse. We have 500 bins along the seafront, our Cityclean teams are carrying out more collections than ever before and we have installed CCTV at Hove Lawns and the central beach area.”
Last weekend (August 21/22) the council teamed up with local campaign groups Surfers Against Sewage and Leave No Trace Brighton to carry out a Zero Waste Beach Initiative and educate the public on the dangers of littering.
Volunteers from the two organisations ran beach cleans and encouraged beach users to not only remove their own rubbish when they leave, but also to dispose of any other waste they come across instead of leaving it behind.
Cllr Heley added:
“The day was a huge success and people we spoke to are very much behind the drive to beat those who leave their waste strewn along the beach and promenade.
“But the figures show there’s still a great deal to do before these people start seeing sense and understand that what they’re doing is selfish, dangerous and wrong.”
Stuart Davies, from Surfers Against Sewage, said:
"These figures confirm what we knew from working on the ground - that our most natural precious asset is being laid to waste to on a daily basis.
“There are ample bins along the seafront, so the message is clear - if you come to use our beach, take your litter with you off the beach.
“It does extreme damage to our local marine life when rubbish is left to be washed into the sea by the incoming tide. If you don't remove your rubbish and you’re spotted then rightly you’ll be held to account for it with a significant fine."
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