What we found in our riverside litterpick

As part of the Our River, Our Sea! season at Lewes Climate Hub in July, plastic pollution action group Strandliners hosted a litterpick along the bank of the River Ouse between Willey’s Bridge and the Phoenix Causeway Bridge. As well as collecting litter, volunteers analysed what they found to add to Strandliners’ database on the most polluting sources of plastic.

Strandliners is an all-volunteer grassroots organisation based in East Sussex. It surveys for plastic pollution through identification, and records the data for organisations including the Marine Conservation Society, Break Free From Plastic and Preventing Plastic Pollution (for the Rivers Trust).

“If we want to stop plastic pollution, we need to know what it is and where it comes from. By creating a data-rich picture of environmental pollution, we can begin to put the steps in place to stop it,” explains Strandliners’ executive director, Andy Dinsdale who led the litterpick.

In 2023, Strandliners’ local volunteers committed over 1,300 hours of their own time to collecting and recording plastic pollution.

Analysing the Ouse-side litterpick

After 90 mins of litter-picking, volunteers collected almost 700 items of rubbish, weighting over 14kg. Guided by Andy, the group were able to classify litter by type and source.

Food packing made up more than two-thirds (69%) of the litter. But cigarette butts, vapes and other smoking materials also made up a staggering 15% – see chart below. Unsurprisingly, given the proximity to the Lewes store, Tesco made up over 15% of all branded items.

Andy at Strandliners comments: “Almost 700 polluting litter items along this short stretch of river bank sounds like a lot, but we know a pick took place right after the Raft Race on the Ouse the week before. This is much less than we’ve collected from this site in the past.

“It’s no surprise – given the proximity of the large Tesco store – that we found so much food packaging. Much of this is made of different plastic polymers that are highly damaging to wildlife, and ultimately us, whether on the river bank or in the Ouse itself.

“It’s another reminder that litter picking on its own will not solve the problem and large companies need to be more involved in the circular economy. Ideally, we’d like companies to move away from a throwaway packaging system to a reuse and refill system to stop this mismanaged waste being such a burden on our natural environment.”

If you are interested in getting involved in litter picks in Lewes, contact Litter Free Lewes on its Facebook page here.

To find out about and get involved in Strandliners’ work, visit https://strandliners.org/