Thousands of plastic bottles clogging up seaside locations, along with cans, glass and crisp packets, with 3,298 pieces picked up for every kilometre cleaned

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The amount of rubbish found dumped on UK beaches rose by a third last year, according to a new report.

More than 8,000 plastic bottles were collected by the Marine Conservation Society’s annual beach clean-up at seaside locations from Orkney to the Channel Islands on one weekend last September.

On average, 99 bottles were picked up along every kilometrecleaned by volunteers. It is estimated that plastic bottles can take up to 500 years to break down once in the sea.

The charity’s report reveals a 34% rise in beach litter overall between 2014 and 2015, the largest ever amount of litter per kilometre (3,298 pieces) and a record-breaking number of volunteers, just over 6,000, taking part.

The conservation charity said the “shocking” figures strengthened the case for the introduction of a refundable deposit on all ‘throwaway’ plastic and glass drinks bottles and aluminium cans. This would encourage consumers not to discard them, while boosting recycling rates and cutting the amount of litter.

Small pieces of plastic topped the list of litter picked up, with 960 bits on average collected for each kilometre of beach cleaned. Shards of glass were the second most common rubbish, with 208 pieces on average per kilometre of beach.

The volunteers found 197 crisp or sandwich packets and lolly or sweet wrappers for every kilometre they searched. Other common litter included bottle caps and lids, string and rope, cotton bud sticks, cutlery, trays and plastic straws, as well as fishing nets and cigarette stubs.

The numbers of plastic drinks bottles found in the beach clean were up 43% on 2014 levels while metal drinks cans were up 29% and lids and caps soared by 41%, the survey showed.

“There have been increases in the number of plastic bottles found on beaches in England, Scotland, Channel Islands, and Northern Ireland”, said Lauren Eyles, MCS Beachwatch Manager.

“The bottles we find on beaches are either dropped directly onto the beach, blown from land or sea, or end up there via rivers. The more we use as a nation, the more we’ll see ending up on our shores.”

All countries saw an increase in litter, except Wales, where litter levels dropped after a record rise last year . However, in the last decade, average litter levels on Welsh beaches have increased by 51%. England suffered record levels of litter across 189 beaches, with the highest levels of rubbish – averaging 5,170 items per kilometre – in the south-west.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest New Brighton, Wallasey: the New Brighteners, a self help group formed in the Wirral, have a formed a volunteer group to keep the shore and beaches clean of plastic litter. Photograph: Mar Photographics/Alamy

Plastic bottles on beaches rose by 57.2% in England, 21.3% in Scotland, 6.3% in the Channel Islands and a whopping 235.3% in Northern Ireland. In Wales they dropped by 39.4 % but in line with the overall fall in the country’s litter levels. In Wales there were still 103 plastic bottles found per kilometre cleaned – higher than the national average.

The charity is working with volunteers to try to reduce litter levels on UK beaches by half by 2020, as well as cutting sewage pollution.

The MSC said deposit return schemes – in use in other parts of the world – give value to items often regarded by consumers as having no value and disposed of irresponsibly.

“Deposit return systems (DRS) are nothing new,” Eyles said. “Lots of people will remember taking pop bottles back to the shop and up until last year the makers of Irn-Bru were returning 30p on glass bottles.

“Currently DRS schemes run successfully in Germany, Denmark, and some states in Australia and the USA. Studies have shown that a scheme can reduce the amount of littered drink containers, lead to more recycling and contribute to the circular economy.”