Beach litter is going down, but plastic is still polluting UK shores

The annual Great British Beach Clean carried out by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has reported on what was found by the volunteers who took part.

And there's good news and bad news,

The 2021 beach clean - which took place from 17th - 26th September - saw over 6,000 volunteers head outside to clear litter from over 55,000 metres of UK beaches, as well as from local streets and parks.

In positive news, the average litter recorded per 100 metres is dropping year on year across the UK. However, the bad news is that three-quarters of the rubbish was made of plastic.

Over 6,000 volunteers around the UK joined the beach clean-up.

This year, an average of 385 items were found per 100m, dropping from averages of 425 in 2020, and 558 in 2019.

A total of 5065 kg of litter was collected and recorded over the week - that's the same weight as a newborn grey whale!

Cotton buds

Cotton bud sticks moved out of the UK's top ten most common rubbish items this year, with the number of plastic cotton bud sticks collected being the lowest in the clean-up's 28-year history.

This year, an average of 6 plastic cotton bud sticks were found per 100m, dropping from 15 in 2020.

Scotland was the first UK country to ban the manufacture and sale of plastic cotton bud sticks in October 2019. England followed suit last year, introducing a ban on single-use plastic straws, cotton bud sticks and stirrers.

The MCS believes that's partly why the number of buds being dropped as litter has gone down so much.

What about plastic bags?

The MCS clean-up also found a drop in single-use plastic bags on beaches - from an average high of 13 per 100m in 2013, down to just 3 per 100m in 2021.

However, plastic pieces remain the most common form of litter on UK beaches, with 75% of all litter collected being plastic or polystyrene, with an average of 112 pieces found for every 100 metres of UK beach surveyed.

What about masks?

The MCS also included PPE items on its survey this year and numbers were found to be similar to 2020, when masks were first made mandatory across the UK.

PPE litter was found on a third (32%) of UK beaches that were cleaned, though masks only came 121st in the list of most common litter items.

However in 2021, eight of ten (80%) of litter picks found PPE , in comparison to seven in ten 69%) finding them in 2020.

What does the charity say?

With so much beach litter being made from plastic, the MCS wants people think more about about how to slow down the sale of plastic products in the UK.

Dr Laura Foster, Head of Clean Seas at the MCS: "While we're seeing a downward trend in litter on beaches, we're still seeing huge volumes of plastic washing up on our shores.

"A shocking 75% of all the litter we collected from UK beaches this year was made of plastic or polystyrene, so it's clear what we need to focus our attention on. "

Lizzie Prior, Beachwatch Manager at the MCS: "The ongoing downward trend we're seeing in litter levels on UK beaches is a positive sign that the actions we're taking at a personal, local and national level are working. But we can't sit back and relax, now is the time for even more ambitious action."