24 Thursday November 25 2021 | the timesNews
Litter on beaches has fallen to the low-
est level for more than 20 years, accord-
ing to the country’s largest annual
clean-up event. An average of 385 items
of litter were found per 100 metres,
down from 425 last year, 558 in 2019
and a peak of 835 in 2014.
The Marine Conservation Society
(MCS), which has run the Great British
Beach Clean since 1994, said the decline
indicated that bans on certain single-
use plastic items were helping reduce
litter, but that ministers needed to go
further and restrict more products.
More than 6,000 volunteers took
part in this year’s clean-up from 17-26
September and removed five tonnes of
litter from more than 55,000 metres of
beaches around the UK as well as their
local streets and parks. They picked up
an average of 112 pieces of plastic and
polystyrene per 100m, 28 cigarette
stubs, 26 crisp packets and 16 plastic
caps and lids.
They found six plastic cotton bud
sticks per 100m, down from 15 last year
and the lowest number in the event’s
history. Scotland banned these sticks in
2019 and England did so last year.
The number of single-use plastic
bags on beaches continued to drop,
from a high of 13 per 100m on average in
2013 down to just three this year. A
compulsory 5p charge for these bags
was introduced in Wales in 2011, North-
ern Ireland in 2013, Scotland in 2014,
and England in 2015. The fee doubled to
10p in England in May.
The government is consulting on
plans to ban single-use plastic plates,
cutlery and polystyrene cups in Eng-Bans on plastic
cut beach litter
to a 20-year low
Ben Webster Environment Editor land and is also considering restrictions
on wet wipes that contain plastic, tobac-
co filters, sauce sachets and single-use
cups. In April a tax will be imposed on
plastic packaging that does not contain
at least 30 per cent recycled material.
Lizzie Prior, MCS beachwatch man-
ager, said: “The ongoing downward
trend we’re seeing in litter levels on UK
beaches is a positive sign that the ac-
tions we’re taking are working. But we
can’t sit back and relax, now is the time
for even more ambitious action.”
Dr Laura Foster, MCS head of clean
seas, said: “UK governments’ current
piecemeal approach to single-use plas-
tics policy just won’t cut it anymore.
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 per cent 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 at-
tention on. “Comprehensive and ambi-
tious single-use plastics policies which
reduce the manufacture and sale of
items is the quickest way of phasing out
plastic from our environment.”
Levels of PPE found this year were
similar to last year, when face masks
were made mandatory across the UK.
PPE litter was found on 32 per cent of
UK beaches cleaned, though masks
ranked only 59 in the list of the most
commonly littered items.
During the 2021 MCS Source to Sea
Litter Quest, which focused inland, 80
per cent of litter picks found PPE, com-
pared with 69 per cent last year.
Ban wet wipes to stop a riverbed
wipeout, leading article, page 37sewage discharge
notifications from May
15 to September 30, the
official bathing season
when water quality is
tested. That compares
with 1,195 last year.
There were 5,517
notifications in the
year to September 30,
up 88 per cent on the
previous 12 months.
However, the charity
said the figures were
likely to have been
much higher as several
companies issued
alerts only during the
bathing season.
People are advised
not to swim for 48
hours after anotification is issued
and SAS said this
meant that 16 per cent
of the “swimmable
days” at all beaches
had been lost.
Southern Water issued
almost two thirds of
the notifications. It was
fined a record
£90 million in July for
dumping billions of
litres of raw sewage
between 2010 and 2015.
There were an
average of 38
notifications per
bathing water covered
by Southern Water.
The worst affected
beaches were Cowes
and Gurnard on theIsle of Wight, with
more than 300 each.
The increase in
notifications was partly
due to reports being
available for more sites
but while the number
of locations for which
Southern Water
provides notifications
rose by 76 per cent
from 2019 to this year,
notifications increased
by 182 per cent.
The charity said that
the increase in spills
could be due to
variations in rainfall or
failure to clear sewer
blockages.
SAS received 286
reports of people
falling ill after
swimming in the sea or
rivers across the UK
over the past year,
almost double the
previous year’s total.
The charity said that it
was able to link a third
of the cases to an alert
of a sewage spill.
Water UK, which
represents water
companies, said:
“Companies want to
invest more to improve
infrastructure and stop
harm.” Southern
Water said: “We are
spending £2 billion to
cut pollution by 80 per
cent by 2025.”
Ban wet wipes, leading
article, page 37A Surfers Against
Sewage activist
highlights the
issue on the
Severn BoreBEN BIRCHALL/PHOTOGRIPPER
ill, according to the
charity Surfers Against
Sewage (SAS).
It published its
annual water quality
report as scans
revealed a mound in
the Thames formed by
an estimated one
million wet wipes
flushed down
lavatories.
Thames21, a charity
focusing on river
health, said the mound
in Hammersmith, west
London, had grown to
the size of two tennis
courts and more than a
metre tall in six years.
SAS found that water
companies issued 3,328T
he number of
sewage spill
alerts warning
people of poor
water quality
at beaches and rivers
almost tripled this
summer, an analysis of
industry figures reveals
(Ben Webster writes).
The spills were
linked to almost 100
cases of bathers fallingSwimmers
fall ill after
huge rise in
sewage spills