Three quarters of a million pieces of rubbish found on UK beaches

Conservationists picked up hundreds of thousands of pieces of rubbish from British beaches last year, according to a charity.

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said more than 15,000 volunteers picked up three-quarters of a million pieces of litter during beach cleans in 2024, averaging 170 items per 100 metres of coastline surveyed.

The number of plastic items - which take hundreds of years to break down and can choke sea life - had jumped by almost a tenth on the year before.

It comes after experts warned that small plastic pellets washed up on beaches in the east of England, "likely" to have come from a collision the week before between an oil tanker and a cargo ship.

The latest annual State of our Beaches report shows that plastic pollution "remains a huge problem for our marine environment", the charity said.

Its volunteers combed stretches of beach for all items of rubbish, which were collected, bagged and recorded in detail.

MCS said plastic fragments were the most commonly found rubbish on UK beaches, followed by single-use plastic packaging like crisp packets and sweet and sandwich wrappers.

Bottle caps and lids, and string and cord, were also common.

The charity said it was unclear why plastic litter had increased by so much year, but that it fits the growing trend of plastic clogging up beaches over the 31 years it has been running the survey.

Lizzie Price, beach watch manager at the MCS, said: "Thanks to over 15,000 volunteers last year, the data from our beach cleans is clear: plastic pollution remains a huge problem for our marine environment.

"We urgently need more policies to reduce single-use plastics and ensure better waste management.

"Everyone has a role to play in protecting our oceans, and we urge the public to support stronger action against plastic waste, as well as cut down plastic from their everyday use."

A spokesperson from the government's environment department said: "For too long plastic waste has littered our streets, polluted Britain's waterways and threatened our wildlife.

"This Government is committed to cleaning up the nation and cracking down on plastic waste as we move towards a circular economy."

That includes delivering a delayed return scheme for plastic bottles from 2027 - first promised under the Conservatives in 2018 and originally due to start in 2023.

(c) Sky News 2025: Three quarters of a million pieces of rubbish found on UK beaches