The Littered Beaches of Britain

Travel Blog  •  Joanna Kakissis  •  04.13.09 | 10:13 AM ET

Photo by spratmackrel via Flickr (Creative Commons)

As depressing as I find many British beaches, I was appalled to read that visitors are practically treating them like landfills. Reuters reports that the Marine Conservation Society, who recruited 5,000 volunteers to help clean up the shores, discovered an average of 2,195 pieces of trash per kilometer of beach—an increase of 110 percent since 1994. Food wrappers and cigarette butts make up about a third of the litter, the group says. Trash dumping on British beaches has doubled in the last 15 years to reach the highest level in history.

 


Joanna Kakissis's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, among other publications. A contributor to the World Hum blog, she's currently a Ted Scripps fellow in environmental journalism at the University of Colorado in Boulder.


1 Comment for The Littered Beaches of Britain

Grizzly Bear Mom 04.14.09 | 11:48 AM ET

I thought Europeans were way ahead of us in green living, or is Britan not considered a part of Europe in green living.  What gives?

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