SHOCKED volunteers cleaning up Brean beach filled a total of 56 bags with rubbish.

Organisers of the one day clean up said they could easily have DOUBLED the horrible haul.

National Trust bosses have warned the rubbish is a major hazard for people and wildlife.

And they have called on anyone using the beach to take their litter home.

Their plea comes as a national report from the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) claims Britain’s beaches are getting filthier.

Among the debris found at Brean were a car bumper, plastic bottles, wet wipes and a live flare.

Some of it is thought to have come from Wales and Bristol.

Around 46 litter pickers travelled from far and wide to help clear up the litter from Brean Cove for a National Trust beach clean.

And despite collecting more than 50 sacks full of rubbish organisers say the team barely “scratched the surface” of the full amount of litter that had been washed up at Brean Cove.

Ian Clemmett, a lead ranger for the National Trust who attended the event, said: “If we had stayed out and collected all day we most likely would have doubled the amount of rubbish we collected; if we had stayed all weekend we could have collected four times the amount.

“We were pleased with the turn-out and amount of litter we cleared but I would say we only scratched the surface.

“However it’s obviously important to note that the rubbish is being washed up in the cove and could have come from anywhere such as Bristol or Wales – more often than not it isn’t from local people.”

The team, which included a couple who had travelled from Leicester to lend a hand, cleared away plastic bottles, cans, wet wipes and even a car bumper.

There was also a live flare found during the clean-up which was taken away by the coastguard as a safety precaution.

Mr Clemmett added: “We really need people to start thinking about how they are disposing of waste.

“We often find a lot of the plastic sticks from cotton buds which can cause major problems for the wildlife here if they get stuck in a mouth or gut. The car bumper that was found could be a major problem to boats in the bay if a propeller were to catch it.

“However it’s definitely something we will do again and we’d like to say a big thank you to the parish council for helping us dispose of the rubbish and also to everyone who came down to help.”

Last week the MCS reported a 6.4% rise in the litter on nation’s beaches following their Great British Beach Clean and called for action to be taken to protect our coastline.

Dr Sue Kinsey, MCS senior pollution policy officer, said: “There has to be a three-pronged attack on marine litter led by new policies and action from Government, new practices from industry and behaviour change from the public.”