HUNDREDS of people gave up part of their weekend to join in a voluntary beach clean across Suffolk.

HUNDREDS of people gave up part of their weekend to join in a voluntary beach clean across Suffolk.

The annual event, which is run by the Marine Conservation Society and coordinated locally by the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty unit, is aimed at cleaning up the area of litter to preserve the stunning coastline.

Nationally Beachwatch attracts around 5,000 volunteers every year, who work across the two days picking up litter which has been dropped by visitors or washed up by the sea.

Volunteers in Suffolk helped clean beaches all along the coast and estuaries, including Aldeburgh, Southwold, Dunwich, Orford Ness, Felixstowe, and Trimley Marshes.

All the litter collected gets recorded and analysed and the results are sent back to the Marine Conservation Society, which uses it to understand marine pollution so it can help protect marine habitats in the future.

During last year's Beachwatch survey weekend nearly 5,000 volunteers across 350 beaches nationwide collected more than 3,000 bags of litter. Suffolk played a major part in this as more than 800 people took part in the event, which stretched along 22km of the coastline.