How plastic bottles make up 24% of all our litter
Drinking from plastic bottles, cups and cans on the go is causing the bulk of litter in Britain, a report has found.
The huge amount of wasted plastic and glass bottles could be radically reduced by a deposit scheme, charity keep Britain Tidy said.
The report, commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and rural Affairs, sampled litter at sites across the country in 2019.
it found that three-quarters of the rubbish was the result of drinks consumption.
The most littered item, by volume, was the small plastic bottle (up to 750ml) for non-alcoholic drinks, accounting for 24.4 per cent of the total. These were joined by cans, larger bottles, glass bottles, coffee cups, takeaway soft drinks cups and cartons, the charity said. But the most numerous type of litter – despite the fall in the number of smokers over the past decade – was cigarette butts, accounting for 66 per cent of all items dropped.
The Daily Mail has campaigned for years against plastic rubbish and litter and supported the great British Spring Clean, run by keep Britain Tidy.
The clean-up, which has been postponed to September, has recruited more than 650,000 people who are pledging to pick up litter in their communities.
keep Britain Tidy conducted a litter survey of 3,360 sites across England between May and July 2019. At each site, surveyors counted and categorised all litter present and graded the site for other local environmental quality indicators, such as detritus, graffiti and fly-posting.
Bins were graded according to condition, cleanliness and fullness. The contents of 854 bins across 746 sites was analysed offsite, which involved counting and categorising all items of waste found in the bins.
richard Mcilwain, deputy chief executive of keep Britain Tidy, said: ‘it’s clear that our “food on the go” culture of convenience comes with real consequences, with food and drink packaging polluting our environment, which in turn costs millions to clean up and harms native wildlife and domestic pets.
‘it is clear that we urgently need new measures to tackle all types of littering but particularly to address the issue of drinks containers, which make up nearly three-quarters of the volume of litter in this country.’
He said a well-designed and comprehensive deposit return scheme should be brought in as soon as possible for all sizes of plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans.
He added: ‘We are delighted that the government is pressing ahead with plans to introduce a deposit return scheme for drinks bottles and cans in 2023 and it must ensure this timescale does not slip.
‘keep Britain Tidy are also calling for the introduction of a charge on single-use plastic and plastic-lined cups, including those use for takeaway coffees and cold drinks.
‘The charge on single-use plastic carrier bags reduced consumption by up to 90 per cent and evidence suggests that a charge on singleuse cups could in turn nudge us away from single use and towards a refill culture for drinks-on-the-go.’