Amount of litter on Britain's beaches hits record high

The amount of litter on Britain's beaches is at its highest level since records began and has increased by 110 per cent over the last 15 years.

In the results of the Marine Conservation Society's Beachwatch 2008 survey, litter pickers found an average of 2,195 items of litter per kilometre of beach, compared to the 1,045 pieces recorded in 1994.

The society is now appealing to the government to head up an overall strategy to help reduce the amount of rubbish being dumped along Britain's coastline, and is urging people to sign a petition in support of this aim.

Litter projects coordinator for the MCS Emma Snowden said: "Whether you live near the coast or miles inland, we are all connected to the sea. This is a man-made problem. Every piece of litter has an owner and we all need to take responsibility to not drop litter in the first place.

"MCS wants to see zero waste on Britain's beaches and our first goal is to halve the litter on Britain's beaches by 2015, but in order to achieve this we need to appoint lead agencies with the specific responsibility to stop marine litter and develop a marine action plan now."

Ms Snowden added litter not only had an aesthetic affect on Britain's beaches, but that 170 different species have been recorded mistaking litter for food, leading to poisoning, starvation and stomach blockages in whales and seabirds.

Beachwatch 2008 was carried out by 5,219 volunteers on 374 beaches during September last year. The survey covered 175.7 kms of coastline and around 385,000 pieces of litter were removed.

The 2,195 items of litter found on each kilometre works out at more than two items per meter of sand.

Ms Snowden said it was important to highlight where the litter came from so people using beaches could begin to take responsibility for their actions. The majority of rubbish came from members of the public at 37.7 per cent, while 13.8 per cent of this year's collection was made up of fishing litter. Sewerage related and sanitary waste made up 6.2 per cent of rubbish, with 1.8 per cent coming from shipping industries.

The information collected for the Marine Conservation Society is also used for the International Coastal Cleanup which looks at the impact of litter on the beaches of 70 countries world wide.