Dog poo is increasingly being left on the beach, creating health and environmental hazards, beach users say.

Lake Macquarie Councillor Kay Fraser said  people regularly used the beach to walk dogs. 

‘‘People are leaving their doggy bags on the beach and it’s getting progressively worse and creating a health hazard,’’ Cr Fraser said.

‘‘I don’t think there’s enough bins on the beach and there’s a lack of signs.

‘‘Most people do the right thing, as long as we make it convenient and accessible for them to do so.’’

Cr Fraser said people went on long walks on the beach and if bins were not handy, doggy bags got left behind.

‘‘They might put it down and have good intentions of picking it up, but may not come back that way,’’ she said.

The bags were being washed into the water, adding to the notorious human-created phenomenon known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

As well as leaving behind dog-poo bags, some people didn’t bag the waste at all, she said.

Lake Macquarie City Council general manager Brian Bell said he would arrange for council officers to inspect the beach and report back to councillors.

Valentine couple Jeremy Hickmans and Linsey Vinen and their two-year-old daughter, Tilly, walk their dogs, Yorkie and Jafa, at Redhead beach. The family are from Britain and have lived in Wollongong and Brisbane.

Mr Hickmans said the Newcastle-Lake Macquarie area was the worst place he had lived for people leaving behind dog poo.

‘‘There’s poo everywhere.’’

The lake shore was a particularly bad area, he said.

Ms Vinen said there were not enough bins or council-supplied dog-doo bags.

‘‘If Tilly was to walk or fall in it, it would be gross,’’ she said.