F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton cleans up plastic littered beach
The reigning Formula One world champion called the litter "disgusting" and urged the public not to buy plastic or polystyrene.
Wednesday 8 August 2018 21:04, UK
Lewis Hamilton has called on people to stop using plastic and polystyrene after cleaning a beach that was covered in rubbish.
In a video posted to his Twitter feed, the Formula One world champion called the litter "disgusting" and urged his followers not to buy plastic and polystyrene.
A bare-chested Hamilton shows the litter on the beach and says: "Okay guys, I'm here in this beautiful part of the world. We've found this trash space here. We've come to clean up.
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"I just wanted you guys to see the impact you're having when you buy plastic and throw it away. This is where it goes. It's disgusting.
"What you end up buying ends up in the damn sea. Think. Think about it. We came here and this was completely covered in plastic bottles."
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Pointing at other rubbish, he added: "This is all polystyrene, little, small pieces. We are going to come back and try to hoover it up.
"Just don't buy polystyrene either. Plastic, polystyrene, all those things. Do not support these companies."
Hamilton posted the video with the message: "I'm in just one of so many beautiful parts of the world today when we stumbled across this mess. We couldn't stand by, we had to do something.
"We all need to act, we must stop supporting companies that are blindly fixated on their profits at the expense of our beautiful planet!"
Twitter users reacted positively to the post. One user, Rob, tweeted pictures of the beach before and after the clean-up, adding: "Before and after. Nothing but respect for Lewis Hamilton."
However some questioned whether the motor racing driver had the right to lecture the public when his sport is ecologically unsound.
One of them, @allhankynopanky, tweeted: "Hey @F1 how about starting with banning disposable plastic water bottles at races including in the driver's room? Install bottle refilling stations instead please. Next: eliminate plastic bags and swag in the promo and souvenirs dept."
Hamilton later posted pictures of himself surrounded by bags full of the collected rubbish.
Autosport Show tweeted: "Meanwhile, @LewisHamilton is casually spending his summer saving the world #plasticpollution."
A recent Sky News documentary Dirty Business revealed it was more lucrative to export British plastic recycling than process it in the UK.
:: Sky's Ocean Rescue campaign encourages people to reduce their single-use plastics. You can find out more about the campaign and how to get involved at www.skyoceanrescue.com