British man who has to clean his own beach in Majorca

If you want something done do it yourself. This is the conclusion Michael Walsh and a fellow British neighbour came to after they watched in horror at the rubbish being swept ashore at their beach next to the Puerto Portals yacht club. So every morning and most evenings the pair literally clean the beach armed with nets and rakes. It is quite amazing the amount of rubbish they collect in the space of 24 hours, ranging from black plastic bags which float on the edge of the beach to bottles washed up on the sand. “We couldn't just stand by and do nothing, so we decided to take action,” said Mr. Walsh, who founded his own tour company many years ago and admits to being a major Majorca fan. Even though the Calvia council have placed rubbish bins on the beach they have done nothing to sort out the rubbish which is daily washed ashore. The Council of Majorca, which owns a small fleet of boats, designed especially for this task, come by at the wrong times, such as mid–morning when most of the rubbish has already been collected. There is a great spirit of community within the Club Marine apartment complex, which overlooks the small beach and where Michael Walsh lives, and one neighbour has even suggested that the Council give them a boat so that they can clean the sea-shore. “We've got plenty of support from everyone living here. We are all very concerned.” Getting the beach back to a fit state is quite a long task and the last thing you really want to do when you are on holiday. “But the job has to be done,” said Mr. Walsh. It is also a dangerous state of affairs. “My boat is being repaired at the moment because a plastic bag got caught in the propeller. It has happened to so many people. The local authorities should penalise all those people who throw rubbish. I've seen out at sea that there are literally hundreds of kilos of waste just floating in the water. I love Majorca and I like to see it at its most beautiful, so this is one of the reasons why I clean the beach.”