Litter survey data collected by participants in the latest beach clean-up reveals the continuing dominance of plastics waste.

Each year survey data is compiled in order to better understand the source of the litter found on our beaches and to assess potential environmental impacts of these materials on sea life.

As with most beach clean-up events, participants in the Seafield Beach clean-up are encouraged to take a tally of the different types of litter they find. These numbers are compiled and we present this years findings below. More importantly the results are passed on the the Marine Conservation Society so that they can be added to the database and used to help stop litter getting into the sea in the first place.

Break-down of the litter data:

In Scotland as a whole, a total of 55,041 litter items were collected on 52 beaches over a total length of 21.32 km.

On average 2,581.4 items of litter /km were found, more than the UK average (2,195/km) representing a 5.37% decrease in density levels compared to 2007.

Public litter was the main source of litter recorded on beaches surveyed in Scotland, with a density of 966.8 items/km surveyed. This is the highest density of public litter for any UK country.

The density of sewage related debris (SRD) in Scotland (509.1/km) was the highest of any country and over three times the UK average (135.9/km), representing 19.7% of all litter in Scotland.

Fishing litter was the third largest source with a density of 462.9/km followed by shipping.

Scotland recorded the highest density of shipping litter for any UK country.

Tags: litter