Recycling

The rate at which shingle drifts from west to east varies from place to place around the bay. Some areas regularly lose material, some do not change and others periodically gain it. To try and redress the balance, shingle is moved from areas of accretion to those depleted by wave action. Dumptrucks are loaded by an excavator and move about 17 cu.m with every journey.

Deposited shingle is then graded by bulldozer. This is an effective way of bolstering eroded defences during the winter when it is not possible for a dredger to bring in new shingle by sea. Whereas re-profiling is totally reactive to weather conditions recycling involves an element of planning. Areas usually recycled are:

Sovereign Harbour Martello tower to the rock revetment
Beachlands campsite to Beachlands
Normans Bay outfall to Normans Bay East
Cooden Beach to Herbrand Walk

Three periods of recycling activity will occur in a normal year:

In early autumn. This avoids working in summer and prepares for the onset of winter
January. Coinciding with the period of winter storms and the largest natural movement of material. The duration and extent can be highly variable.
Easter. Reinstating the beach along the whole frontage following the winter season. Again duration and extent depend on the amount of natural movement of beach material.

In particularly stormy winters such as winter 2006-7, recycling outside these standard periods will occur as is necessary to maintain the integrity of the defences. It is generally is a weekday activity, taking between 10 & 15 days, and working between 07:30 and 17:00. However, during prolonged storms work may have to be carried out over the weekend as well.

Examples of beach change following recycling

Beach at Normans Bay East before and after recycling in January 2006

Beach at Sovereign Harbour before and after recycling in January 2006