Council completes oil spill clean-up
Published Wednesday 29th September 10 in Council - news and information releases news
More than a TON of polluted material has been removed from Southend’s beaches following the recent oil spill.
A major clean-up operation had to be launched after an Italian-registered vessel bound for Tilbury discharged between 200-500 litres of fuel oil into the Thames on 19th September.
The following day oil globules started appearing on seaweed and groynes along a four-mile stretch of beach between Sea Life Adventure and the Coastguard lookout at Shoebury.
Within hours Southend-on-Sea Borough Council's Emergency Planning Officer met with anti-pollution experts to discuss how best to tackle the problem and a clean-up plan was instigated.
Members of the Pier and Foreshore team linked up with 15 staff from waste contractors Cory Environmental for the big beach clean-up, which began on Tuesday last week (21st September).
Wearing protective clothing and working for hours at a time in often warm conditions they carefully raked oil-polluted material into piles before bagging it for safe disposal.
It took them three whole days to complete the operation, during which time more than a ton of polluted seaweed, flotsam and jetsam was removed from the resort's beaches.
A similar operation was carried out by staff from neighbouring Castle Point Borough Council at Concord Beach in Canvey Island after it too was affected by the oil spill.
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council's Emergency Planning Officer Keith Holden praised the clean-up team but said it was possible residents might still come across polluted material.
He said: "The staff who took part in the clean-up deserve great praise for the professional way they went about what was a very unpleasant and back-breaking job.
"We are fairly confident we've dealt with the majority of the pollution but our foreshore and litter-picking teams will continue to monitor all our beaches.
"If anyone comes across oil-affected material I would urge them to report it to the Council's Street Scene team on 01702-215006 or 01702-466550 (out of hours).
"If you are unfortunate enough to get oil on your hands you should wash them as soon as possible with a suitable detergent such as a heavy duty dish soap.
"If any oil remains you should massage petroleum jelly into the affected areas for five minutes before using a dry wash cloth to wipe it off."