Plastic bag litter on beaches falls by 80%

There are less plastic bags like these on beaches according to a charity

An environmental charity says that the number of plastic bags littering beaches has gone down by a lot in recent years.

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said its beach clean programme found an average drop of 80% in the number of plastic bags found.

The charity says the reduction is due to charges on single use carrier bags and is hoping similar bans for other plastic items will mean cleaner beaches in the future.

The charity runs the Great British Beach Clean each September.

For the litter-picking survey, which has been running since 1994, volunteers around the country record all the litter they find on their 100-metre stretch of beach.

Bans on single-use plastic

Plastic cotton bud sticks were banned in 2020

A plastic bag charge was first bought in in Wales with England, Scotland and most recently Northern Ireland bringing in similar schemes.

Last year figures for England showed single-use plastic bags usage had dropped 98% since the 5p charge for was introduced in 2015.

The MCS says these rules have resulted in less plastic bag rubbish on UK beaches.

The charity are hoping that bans bought in for single-use cutlery, food containers, polystyrene cups and balloon sticks in England, Scotland and Wales in the last couple of years will have the same effect in a few years time.

Lizzie Price, UK beachwatch manager at the MCS said:

"We're now starting to see a drop in plastic cotton bud sticks, a drop in cutlery, so any of the policies they've put in are starting to see a positive effect of the reduction on our beaches.

"It allows us to then say these work, and now there's other single use items that we're finding that we also want to see change to, things like drinks litter."

Drinks litter on beaches

Plastic bottles are often found littering UK beaches

Data from the beach cleans found of one out of 10 rubbish items found on 97% of UK beaches are plastic litter from drinks, like bottles, cans and lids.

The previous government announced plans to bring in a deposit return scheme for recycling bottles.

People would have to pay an extra charge on drinks containers like bottles and cans which would then be refunded when the container is bought back for recycling.

The MCS is calling on the new government, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, to go ahead with this plan.