Paralympian Ellie Simmonds leads beach clean

Ellie Simmonds says she is passionate about protecting oceans and waterways [BBC]

Five times Paralympic gold medallist Ellie Simmonds has led a beach clean as part of a campaign to prevent a million pieces of plastic getting into the sea.

The swimmer was joined by Team England athletes taking part in the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and volunteers for the clean-up of West Kirby Beach in Merseyside.

Commonwealth Sport has teamed up with the Royal Commonwealth Society to tackle plastic pollution with the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign.

Simmonds, 31, said she was passionate about ocean conservation and said it was "really important" to do our bit to protect our waters and oceans and removing just one piece of plastic could "have a huge impact".

She said little changes such as taking part in a beach clean, thinking about recycling and using less water could make a big difference to the climate.

"We live on an island, we live close to rivers, we live close to lakes, we've also got amazing nature as well and it's really important that we all do our bit to protect our waters, to protect our oceans, to protect our nature so everyone for years to come can enjoy it," she told BBC Radio Merseyside.

Simmonds said images of plastic being tangled around marine life such as turtles showed how "just taking away one piece of plastic can have a huge impact".