ANYTHING that could be flushed down the toilet is ending up on West Fife beaches.

That's the evidence from Plastic Free Dalgety Bay who spend hours trying to clean our shorelines.

Some culprits are manufacturers but more often than not it's householders who are to blame for littering our beaches.

Kim Blasco, leader of the Plastic Free group, told the Press: "The most disturbing stuff in Dalgety Bay is the huge amount of sanitary products.

"There is a drain for when the sewage system gets blocked and everything just comes out of there at the bay where the radiation warning is.

"Wet wipes, depository wrappers, thousands of cotton buds – that stretch of the shore is just inundated with this stuff."

A large beach clean is normally organised several times a year by the group, who work under the banner of charity Surfers against Sewage, but each volunteer has a part of the shoreline they are responsible for keeping clean on a more regular basis.

They work from Braefoot up to St David's and are also working with Inverkeithing High School on other parts of the coastal path.

Describing what other things he has found, Kim said: "The coastline is absolutely covered in nurdles (pellets that are used to make our plastic products).

"The amount of things people throw down the loo too.

"Anything that could flush down really ... floss, toothbrushes, contact lens pods, vanity products.

"People just clearly treat the toilet like a bin.

"I recently saw a comedian talking about a challenge to see what you can flush down the loo, which says it all really.

"We're not really supposed to clear the shoreline where the radiation is but I think this pollution is more of a risk than the radiation."

Wet wipes seem to be causing a huge amount of damage to the coast with many environmentalists calling for them to be banned.

Kim explained: "Wet wipes get caught up in the seaweed and they create a matte-like coating that covers the whole shoreline so there's only so much you can do to get rid of them.

"They come through the sewage system but it's not able to deal with it.

"It seems to be particularly bad in Dalgety Bay.

"Flushable and biodegradable wipes are just a lie and used as a marketing technique but all it means is that they break down in pieces quicker.

"At Grangemouth, they make nurdles and they do not have sufficient precautions to stop them going into the sea.

"I was doing surveys on the beach 20 years ago and we were finding those things but we didn't know what they were.

"You won't see them if you're not looking for them but if you know where they are there are literally billions of them.

"They're just part of the fabric of the soil."

Plastic Free Dalgety Bay has removed more than 1,000 kilos of rubbish from the shoreline in the last 18 months.

Kim added: "It seems meaningless because plastic is so light but on the other hand it shows how much we must have picked up and it's involved a lot of work.

"Once, when I was cleaning up, I bumped into a friend whose sister was visiting. She didn't live by the coast and she admitted to putting wet wipes down the loo but after seeing what I was dealing with she vowed she would stop.

"You've got to think what if a whale swallowed that wet wipe or if a hedgehog got stuck in a plastic band.

"I do think that it needs to come from the government though to stop things going into our oceans."

If you would like to get involved in Plastic Free Dalgety Bay, visit their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/Plastic-Free-Dalgety-Bay-362778561196798/