Plastic waste in our rivers
breaking down in water. They make up 93 per cent of the material that causes sewer blockages.
Environmentalists say they arrive in waterways because people mistakenly flush them down toilets, due to inaccurate and misleading labelling.
Scientists believe the wipes are among the sources of the plastic fibres found inside fish. One study showed that 75 per cent of flounder samples in the river had plastic in their guts.
Natural History Museum research published last October found nearly a third of fish in the Thames Estuary had eaten plastic.
Co-author Dr Paul Clark said: “Plastic pollution is on the same calamitous magnitude as climate change and deforestation. We are in need of a monumental change in human attitudes.”
A spokesman for Coca-Cola said: “We care about plastic waste and certainly don’t want to see our bottles end up as litter in the Thames, or anywhere.”
A spokeswoman for Highland Spring said: “We feel passionately about reducing litter and encouraging recycling, and through our Love to Recycle campaign we want consumers to understand that every single Highland Spring bottle can be recycled.”
Gavin Partington, of the British Soft Drinks Association, added: “We support the introduction of a GB-wide full deposit return scheme.”
HISTORIC SITE MARRED BY VERY MODERN MESS
AMERICAN tourists flock to Rotherhithe, where the Pilgrim Fathers set sail on the Mayflower.
But visitors to the south-east London suburb were last week greeted by unsightly heaps of waste washed up at low tide.
The spot – popular with mudlarks and metal detectorists – was littered with plastic bottles, beer cans, polystyrene takeaway boxes, toys and chocolate wrappers.
Among the waste, we found a child’s dummy lying next to a plastic syringe.
In a sign that householders are using the river as a rubbish dump, eight Christmas trees lay abandoned on the foreshore.