Litter on beaches has fallen to its lowest level in more than 20 years, according to the country’s biggest annual clean-up event.
An average of 385 pieces of trash were found per 100 meters, down from 425 in 2020, 558 in 2019 and a peak of 835 in 2014.
The Marine Conservancy (MCS), which has run the Great British Beach Clean since 1994, says the decline indicates that bans on certain single-use plastics have helped reduce litter, but the The minister needs to go further and limit more products.
More than 6,000 volunteers took part in this year’s cleanup from 17-26 September and removed 5 tonnes of rubbish from more than 55,000 meters of beaches across the UK as well as their local streets and parks. They collected an average of 112 pieces of plastic and polystyrene per 100m, 28 cigarette stubs, 26 brittle packs and 16 plastic caps and lids.
They found six plastic cotton swabs per 100m, down from 15 last year and the lowest number in the event’s history. Scotland banned the club in 2019 and England followed suit last year.
The number of single-use plastic bags on beaches continues to decline, from an average high of 13 pieces per 100 meters in 2013 to just three this year. A mandatory 5p fee on these bags was introduced in Wales in 2011, Northern Ireland in 2013, Scotland in 2014 and England in 2015. The fee doubled to 10p in the UK in October. 5.
The government is consulting on a plan to ban single-use plastic plates, cutlery and polystyrene cups in the UK and is also considering restrictions on wet wipes containing plastic, cigarette filters, sauce packs and disposable cups
Lizzie Prior, MCS’s director of beach watches, said: “The ongoing downward trend we are seeing in the amount of litter on UK beaches is a positive sign of the actions that are being taken. we’re doing at the individual, local and national level being effective. But we cannot sit back and relax, now is the time for even more ambitious actions.”
Dr Laura Foster, MCS head of clean seas, said: “The UK governments’ current piecemeal approach to single-use plastic policy won’t cut it any further. While we are seeing a decline in litter on our beaches, we are still seeing large amounts of plastic waste washing up on our shores.
“The shocking 75% of the litter we’ve collected from UK beaches this year is made of plastic or polystyrene, so it’s clear what we need to focus our attention on. Comprehensive and ambitious single-use plastics policies aimed at reducing the production and sale of items are the fastest way to remove plastic from our environment as quickly as possible.”
The levels of PPE found this year are similar to 2020, when face masks were made mandatory across the UK. PPE litter found on 32% of UK beaches is cleaned, although face masks rank only 59th on the list of most commonly littered items.
In the 2021 MCS Sea Traces, which focuses on land, 80% of litter picked up found PPE, compared with 69% in 2020.
