Words by Smiley Team
The amount of litter on beaches is going down year-on-year, a charity has found.
The Marine Conservation Society’s annual Great British Beach Clean, which took place from 17-26 September 2021, saw 6,176 volunteers head outside to clear litter from their local streets, parks and over 55,000 metres of UK beaches.
A total of 5064.8kg of litter was collected and recorded over the week by dedicated volunteers.
The average litter recorded per 100 metres is dropping, they found. This year, an average of 385 items were found, dropping from averages of 425 in 2020, and 558 in 2019.
[Discover more positive news on Smiley Movement]
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 Great British Beach Clean’s 28-year history. This year, an average of 6 plastic cotton bud sticks were found, dropping from 15 in 2020. These decreasing figures are a positive indication that policies are working.
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. It's likely that the drop in numbers found on beaches is, at least in part, as a result of these policies over the last couple of years. The Welsh Government is yet to introduce a ban on plastic cotton bud sticks.
Numbers of single-use plastic bags on beaches have continued to drop, from a high of 13 on average in 2013, down to just 3 in 2021.
Plastic pieces remain the most prevalent 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.
[Find out how you can contribute to positive change by getting involved with Smiley Movement]
The Marine Conservation Society is continuing to campaign for ambitious single-use plastics policies which would phase out the manufacture and sale of plastic products in the UK.
Lizzie Prior, beachwatch manager at the Marine Conservation Society, said: “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.”
Read more about the Great British Beach Clean, and the Marine Conservation Society’s year-round Beachwatch programme on the charity’s website: www.mcsuk.org.
