AGENCIES in Cornwall that have been working together to clear up pink bottles washed up on beaches in and around The Lizard Peninsula coastal area, have confirmed the operation is going very well and Cornwall remains open for business.

The Council has been working with the National Trust, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), Natural England, the Environment Agency, and its contractors CORMAC and CORY Environmental to organise the collection and disposal of the bottles.

The pink bottles, containing a regular household stain remover liquid, came from a container reported missing from a cargo ship. The manufacturer of the product is also working closely with agencies in Cornwall to support the clean-up operation. 18,720 bottles were being transported in the container of which approximately 50% have already been accounted for.

The multi-agency response is being co-ordinated by the Council’s Emergency Management team who are working with partners to monitor the situation and arrange for bottles to be removed.

“Cornwall has tried and tested plans for dealing with situations like this and the response from partner agencies and the company has been fantastic “ said Geoff Brown, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities. “Arrangements to clear away the bottles were put into place as soon as we were made aware of the situation, and we are continuing to work with partners to remove bottles from beaches as they are reported to us. “

“We know there has been media interest in this situation, with images of the pink bottles appearing on some news programmes – but the clear message from Cornwall is that all our beautiful beaches remain open and ready to welcome visitors”.

So far the majority of bottles have washed up on National Trust owned beaches and Alastair Cameron from the National Trust has praised the support the organisation has received from its volunteers. ‘Each day this week volunteers have played a massive role in clearing Poldhu beach and others in the vicinity, and it’s a testament to how much our beautiful beaches and marine environment is valued by local people” he said. “From the Friends of Poldhu – who were the first to spot the bottles arriving – to staff from Culdrose Naval Air Station and Surfers Against Sewage volunteers as well as individual people - the local community should be congratulated for how they’ve responded.’

The number of bottles being washed up has significantly reduced, although agencies are continuing to monitor the situation closely. The MCA has now flown three aerial surveillance flights over the affected area, the latest this morning which confirmed that the numbers of bottles being seen on the sea is significantly reduced, with previously reported bottles on Tuesday and Wednesday now beached. The MCA also has equipment, staff and support vessels on standby at Newlyn which may be used when the weather conditions improve. This aims to help to contain and recover any new collections of bottles which are detected off shore before they reach the beaches.

All the agencies request members of the public to report any sightings to the Council on 0300 1234 222 so arrangements can be made for them to be collected.