During the past two summers, shocking scenes of piles of rubbish and litter left strewn across Thanet's stunning beaches sadly became the norm.

On the busiest days, during a period when more people were holidaying in the UK due to Covid, the littering was extreme, particularly on the main bays in Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs.

This was despite attempts by the cash-strapped district council to resolve the problem with extra bins and teams of beach cleaners, while fed-up communities carried out frequent litter picks.

A massive £186,000 was spent last year to tackle waste on the coastline, which included a one-off £61,000 Covid support payment. Thanet council says without this, it would not have been possible to have run the service seen last summer.

But even with that extra funding, piles of waste, seagulls tearing open dumped carrier bags full of rubbish and broken glass in the sand became a regular part of Thanet's Covid summers.

Now, a report on the council's coastal waste practices has been published, setting out 20 recommendations to help keep the beaches and coastline clean.

In the document is a list of the extra measures taken in the past two years to try to keep on top of the problem.

But it also outlines the shocking reality of what it was like during peak times, including extreme littering and the abuse of toilet cleaning staff and beach cleaners by people using the bays.

Bulky waste was also dumped by bins, but due to excessive traffic it was difficult for council vehicles to get where they needed to be.

The recommendations have been drawn up in a bid to resolve some of the issues.

They include prioritising funding towards the service, promoting a plastic-free regime and controlling the use of frequently dumped items such as polystyrene containers.

Another recommendation is making all bins 'smart' so cleaning teams are alerted remotely when they are full.

The report, put together by councillors on a coastal waste review working party, also suggests TDC adopts a stronger public message on litter as well as create 'two-minute beach cleans' encouraging beach users to help during peak times.

A repeated point in the report is for better communication between the council and voluntary groups who have been instrumental in the efforts to keep the coastline clean.

Councillors who carried out the review state that TDC should consider approaching these groups first when recruiting extra seasonal staff. The authority should also acknowledge, support and celebrate the work of the volunteers and groups by providing bags and equipment.

The suggestion of a hotline to call for action, such as arranging picking up rubbish bags, was also put forward.

The recommendations were drawn up following a review involving seven community litter-picking groups, parish councils and cabinet members.

Of 18 local businesses that were invited to attend a meeting, only four accepted - The Bus Café, Broadstairs Chamber of Commerce, Broadstairs Tourism and Leisure Association, and Your Leisure - and so that meeting was cancelled.

Cllr Phil Fellows, chairman of the coastal waste scrutiny review, said in the report that it has been interesting to get an insight into the mammoth effort council staff and volunteers undertake to keep coastal areas clean and tidy.

"A number of ideas have been identified in this report which, if implemented, will successfully lead to a more effective approach for keeping our coastline clean and attractive to both our local communities and visitors to our district," he said.

"With budgets becoming tighter each year we feel that some of the recommendations can be implemented fairly easily with little or no cost and hopefully go to make a big difference.

"Once the report is presented to the overview and scrutiny panel, members will forward the report and its various recommendations to cabinet for action in due course."