Beach cleaners find pre-decimalisation plastic bag

By Chris Lockyer, BBC News, Somerset
Plastic Free West Somerset Photograph of an empty Tempo-branded bag of garden peas, with its cost showing 2/8Plastic Free West Somerset
Volunteers discovered the bag on the Exmoor coast

A group of beach cleaners have recovered a plastic bag dating back more than 50 years as part of an "extreme" clean up over the weekend.

The bag for Tempo Peas includes a price tag of 2 shillings 6 pence, a price system not used since 1971.

The group, working along the coast of west Somerset said the discovery of the bag revealed the impact of not recycling plastic.

They also found fishing lines, a portable toilet and carpet underlay as part of their clean-up of a beach near Minehead.

Plastic Free West Somerset Volunteers stood in a field with a large pile of debris found on the beachPlastic Free West Somerset
Volunteers also found a traffic cone, fishing nets and fake grass

Volunteers were cleaning the beach as part of the Plastic Free West Somerset and Surfers Against Sewage groups.

The 18-strong group also discovered artificial grass, Wellington boots, a traffic cone and a bed headboard.

Once the beach at Greenaleigh Sand had been cleared the group carried the debris to a nearby farm where it was taken away by Exmoor Park rangers.

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