Welsh public urged to join UK-wide beach clean to tackle plastic pollution

Rebecca Speare-Cole, Press Association Sustainability Reporter

Members of the public are being urged to join a UK-wide beach clean as organisers say record temperatures this summer may have caused a spike in plastic pollution after millions flocked to the coast.

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said thousands of volunteers will help clear litter from coastlines for the charity’s Great British Beach Clean from today until next Sunday (September 18 to 27).

The initiative will involve teams recording the rubbish they collect, with the findings then fed into MCS’s dataset, which has tracked marine litter since 1994.

The organisation said this year’s beach clean will show whether more litter was dropped on UK beaches during the unprecedented hot weather seen this summer.

Over the last 32 years, volunteers have recorded more than three million pieces of litter, which has helped to paint a picture of how the litter that washes up on UK shores is changing.

Building this evidence base has helped the charity advocate for measures aimed at addressing harmful waste, including single-use carrier bag charges and legislation to tackle plastic in wet wipes.

According to MCS’s dataset, the number of plastic bags found on British beaches has fallen by 80% since charges were introduced.

The organisation is currently backing the introduction of a nationwide deposit return scheme for single-use drinks containers.

The delayed UK-wide scheme is set to launch on October 1 2027, adding a flat 20p deposit to eligible cans and bottles.

This will be returned to customers if they deliver the empty containers to designated drop-off points.

Catherine Gemmell, policy and advocacy manager at MCS, said: “We know simple policies can make a big difference.

“We’re looking forward to a similar drop in drinks container litter with the introduction of deposit return schemes in October 2027.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg though; our data shows we need more policies to tackle single-use plastic at a much faster rate.”

Last year, the MCS beach clean found an average of 105 items made from plastic on every 100 metres of beach surveyed by volunteers, accounting for 87% of all litter recorded.

This represents a steady rise in the proportion of beach litter made from plastic over the past three decades – from 75% in 1995, to 81% in 2005, and 87% in 2025.

The charity has found that some plastic items are on the rise, such as plastic fast-food containers as well as plastic and polystyrene pieces.

In 2025, drinks-related litter was found on 95% of beach cleans, with almost 50,000 drinks-related items recorded. Plastic bottles alone were found on 69% of beach cleans.

The charity said these figures highlight the enduring and growing scale of the problem, with plastic pollution persisting in the marine environment for many decades, breaking apart into ever-smaller fragments rather than disappearing.

Microplastics are then ingested by marine animals, while larger pieces can cause injury, starvation or death through ingestion or entanglement.

The charity is calling for more action to turn off the tap on plastic production, including a reduction in the amount of virgin plastic produced and tougher measures to clamp down on single-use plastics.

Information on the nearest beach clean or organising a local event can be found here: www.mcsuk.org/beach-clean

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