Financial services firm Grant Thornton and scuba diving school Diveshack Malta have recently teamed up to carry out a beach clean-up in Qui-Si-Sana, Sliema.

A 39-strong team composed of 13 nationalities swept the beach and the seabed, recovering a staggering 515 kilos of debris.

While the land party was busy picking up cans, bottles and cigarette butts from the beach, divers and snorkellers removed car tyres and metal railings from the seabed.

At the end of the activity, the teams had collected 80kg of paper, plastic and aluminium cans; 90kg of cigarette butts, wires, artificial turf, clothes and towels; 45kg of rubber tyres; 60kg of boardwalks and wooden steps from ladders; and 240kg of metal railings and parts of ladders. Cigarette butts, cans, bottles and plastic cutlery are the items most commonly found on Maltese beaches.

The activity, organised on World Cleanup Day on September 17, attracted the attention of both bathers and media users, to the extent that several members of the public have already contacted both organisations to volunteer to join in for the next clean-up.