The chips add to the list of food items which have been littering beaches along Sussex’s coast in recent weeks, including onions, garlic and tins of milk.
Joel Bonnici and his partner Trisha, from Eastbourne, regularly walk to the seal colony at Falling Sands, close to Beachy Head.
Yesterday afternoon (Saturday, January 17) they were walking to the beauty spot when they were greeted by a “sea of chips”.
“Like everyone has been doing, we have been picking things up as we go and were picking up the last of the onion bags,” he said.
“As we turned the corner, we saw a sea of chips and chip bags stretching across the beach towards the lighthouse.
“From a distance it looked like the golden sand of a Caribbean beach but on closer inspection we saw not just the chips but chip bags.”
The couple spent the next two hours clearing as many of the plastic bags as they could before it became too dark to continue.
Joel dug down and estimated that the blanket of chips was about two feet deep. The couple also spotted parts of a container washed up on the beach.
“It is sad that so much plastic pollution is just metres from the seal colony. Seals are known to play with and chew plastic bags underwater – we both scuba dive and see this behaviour frequently.
“I hope if enough people come down, we can have it cleared before the weekend ends.
A spokeswoman for HM Coastguard said: “At 7.50am on Tuesday (13 January), Newhaven Coastguard Rescue Team was sent to three shipping containers reported ashore at Seaford. A container off Littlehampton was recovered by a contracted salvage vessel, along with debris off Beachy Head.
“An HM Coastguard fixed-wing aircraft was sent to surveil the area on Friday (16 January) and no further containers were spotted offshore.
“On Sunday 18th January, a passing vessel reported a container fragment in the vicinity of Beachy Head, the position for which has been passed to a response organisation contracted by the vessel’s insurers.
“Container fragments and contents that have come ashore at Selsey, Eastbourne, Newhaven, Rustington, Rottingdean and Beachy Head continue to be monitored. The shoreline response is being coordinated by local authorities and their partner organisations.
“All containers will be assessed to establish their origin. Cargo lists confirm that the contents of containers that went overboard from two vessels on 8 January have non-hazardous cargo. The recovery of all containers remains the responsibility of the vessels’ operators, with which HM Coastguard is liaising, alongside salvors.
“Any sightings of containers should be reported to Solent Coastguard on 0344 382 0560 or via VHF radio. Non-perishable wreck material arriving on shore, including cargo, must be reported to the Receiver of Wreck within 28 days.”
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