1,908 items of litter every kilometre on Scots shores

SCOTLAND'S beaches are cleaner than they were a year ago but still dirtier than the rest of the UK, a new report has revealed.

• Litter strewn on Edinburgh's Portobello beach. Picture: TSPL

During this year's annual Beachwatch Big Weekend, organised by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), 46,763 pieces of litter were collected from 61 beaches around Scotland.

This worked out at 1,908 items per kilometre during the giant litter pick, a decrease of 26 per cent compared to 2008.

However, this was still higher than the UK average, which was 1,849 items per kilometre.

The giant litter pick took place over the last weekend in September last year.

Across the UK, the Channel Islands had the cleanest beaches, followed by Northern Ireland and England. Wales had the dirtiest beaches.

Over the weekend, volunteers filled 479 rubbish bags with 46,763 bits of litter.

The amount of sewage-related rubbish such as cotton buds and tampons found on Scottish beaches was well above the UK average.

In Scotland, almost a fifth of litter was sewage-related debris, compared to 5 per cent in the UK on average.

East Bay beach in Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire, was particularly badly affected by a very large number of cotton bud sticks.

Among the most bizarre items discovered on Scottish beaches were a pineapple from France, a baby monitor, a laboratory incubator, a ScottishPower sign, a rubber frog, a set of fake vampire's teeth and a merchant sailor's hat.

Four out of ten pieces of litter on beaches in Scotland originated from the public and seven per cent from fishing activities.

MCS warned that there had been a "staggering" increase in the amount of plastic litter discovered since the first Beachwatch in 1994.

It has risen by 121 per cent, compared to a 77 per cent rise in litter as a whole.

Plastic does not break down but remains in the environment for thousands of years unless cleaned away.

MCS Scottish projects officer, Anne Saunders, said: "Our seas and beaches are becoming overwhelmed with plastic litter, which not only looks horrible, but kills and injures many of our fantastic marine animals every year."

Richard Lochhead, environment secretary, said: "It's greatly encouraging that Scotland's communities are taking decisive action to clean up our environment. Over 800 people took part in this clean-up and the amount of litter collected on our beaches was down significantly on 2008 levels – however there is still much more to do."

He said Marine Scotland was developing a new marine litter strategy.

"Scotland's natural environment is worth around 17 billion to our economy.

"We all have a role to play in ensuring Scotland becomes a cleaner, greener place and dealing with our waste responsibly is a huge part of that," he added.

Ms Saunders said support from government could be a turning point.

"The solution is to stop litter getting into the sea in the first place and the Marine Conservation Society is delighted that the Scottish Government has announced their commitment to drawing up a strategy," she said.