Clean-up events at Whitehaven's North Shore and St Bees have taken place with families and individuals braving the cold to remove bags full of rubbish from the coastline.

Mark Shackley, of Whitehaven, now plans to make it a monthly event, praising the Blue Planet series for raising vital awareness.

"I've been watching Blue Planet and seeing all that island of rubbish in the sea really made me think. We live on this Earth but we are wrecking it. It's not the animals, it's us humans," he said.

"If we all picked a few bits of rubbish up when we were out on the beach it would help. It's only a little thing, but if everyone did something little it would soon mount up."

"It can only be a good thing. It's now going to Government and they are starting to take action on plastic straws, bottles and packaging.

"I like this idea of getting 25p back when you take your bottles back, like you used to with glass ones. It's quite a basic idea but it's something that could really work," he added.

Whitehaven town councillor, Siobhan Gearing, has also organised a community clean up in Ulldale Road, Mirehouse.

The event takes place on Sunday, February 25 and she is urging all those in the area to join in.

"I walk this route to and from school four times a day and seeing it get increasingly worse saddens me.

"My children question me as to why our area looks the way it does because they have, and continue to be, taught why it is important to bin rubbish," she said.

The Blue Planet II series, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, showcased some of the spectacular secrets of marine life, but it also revealed a darker reality - the man-made plastic menace that is destroying our oceans.