Leicester: Floods leave river 'festooned' with litter

This litter was seen washed up by the River Soar in the Ellis Meadows area of the city

Rubbish left "festooned" across river banks and stuck in tree branches after flooding shows an "appalling legacy of litter" in Leicester, a professor says.

Prof Sarah Gabbott, of the University of Leicester, said there were countless numbers of aluminium cans and plastic bottles washed up by the River Soar.

She said: "The litter clogs up the river and causes even more flooding."

Prof Gabbott wants to educate people that litter is "killing wildlife" and "ruining our beautiful river".

The professor, who researches plastic pollution in the environment, also spotted kitchen lino, fire extinguishers, car bumpers, medium-density fibreboard (MDF), tricycles, footballs, barbecues, and part of a kitchen cupboard in the wake of Storm Henk.

Prof Sarah Gabbott said flooding during Storm Henk had brought rubbish to the surface, which was only "a snapshot of what the river is carrying"

She said: "We had these incredible floods and what has happened is the water of the River Soar has risen, broken over the banks, and all the material that was in the river has been washed across the flood plain and now it is stranded so we can see it.

"It is very bad. I've travelled to a lot of developing countries to look at the plastic problems there and I'll be honest, this would fit in with those places and those places don't have waste management systems like we do here."

She says it spoils beautiful green spaces, the litter itself builds up and causes additional flooding, and it is terrible for wildlife and for ecology.

Prof Gabbott added litter dropped on the streets often ended up washed into the river due to the rain.

Prof Gabbott said the rubbish was caused by fly-tipping as well as littering

She said the flooding had "brought into stark focus the appalling legacy of litter that Leicester's River Soar carries through our city and onwards into the Trent and then the North Sea".

Prof Gabbott, who saw the rubbish in the Ellis Meadows area while volunteering with the Green Circle Nature Regeneration CIC, added: "I am shocked by the sheer abundance of litter that is now scattered across the river banks and snared on trees and bushes in the city where I live.

"It is like our dirty litter has been hung out to dry where we can all witness it."

She said "you can almost not see the foliage".

"It is just festooned in blue, white, red plastic bags, and material of all different colours and types," she said.

"It looks almost like there's a landfill, which has just been shoved into the River Soar. It's horrendous."

She said: "What we really need is to stop it happening in the first place and that's where education is critical. I know that the city council are doing work around education, then there are various voluntary groups.

"We're taking kids out on the river on a boat, teaching them about the river, how it works, about nature, about the environment and how important it is.

"Hopefully they'll talk to their friends and family and stop this kind of littering happening again."

Prof Gabbott said the number of bottles and cans she spotted were "so dense in places that you make a crunching noise as you walk"

Chris Desai, founder of Leicester environmental charity UOcean, which cleans up waterways, said: "We see this kind of pollution every day.

"When I saw it, I was just 'that's the River Soar and that's why we do this' but for the public to see, they are shocked beyond belief.

"We have been saying this is a problem for the past three years.

"We are going to keep highlighting the fact that our rivers in Leicester need our help."

Leicester City Council workers and volunteers have been cleaning up the land by the river over the last few days, and said clearing litter from the waterways was a constant challenge.

Victoria Hudson, from the council, said: "The efforts will be continually ongoing because this is just one of many sites along the eight-and-a-half mile stretch of the city's River Soar.

"As soon as we can get the boats back out on water, we will be back out with our volunteers as ever."

She added: "We go the extra mile at Leicester and we have a fleet of boats. We take our Leicester environmental volunteers out, usually twice weekly."