Thames 21 is the voice of London’s waterways, working with communities to improve rivers and canals for both people and wildlife. They mobilise thousands of volunteers every year to clean and green the capital’s 400 mile network of waterways.
This week they launched a Live Litter Map, showing the effects of plastic pollution across the Tidal Thames. It makes pretty grim reading and as a City Councillor it has certainly refocused my mind on the subject.
Some of their notable work has found:
🔹 Over the last 10 years, they have counted 142,779 wet wipes, 97,830 plastic bottles, and 13,089 plastic cups. Our volunteers via surveys and clean-ups have removed more than 14000 bin bags of rubbish from the Tidal Thames.
🔹Their litter surveys categorise the waste they find, into sewage and non-sewage derived waste. They found that 44% of the plastic pollution on the Tidal Thames originates from sewage!
🔹Of the nearly 100K plastic bottles collected on the Thames foreshore, almost half were single-use water bottles. While the volume of plastic waste they’ve found is alarming, the positive impact of their collective efforts is extremely encouraging. Everybody has a role to play in tackling plastic litter. They are pushing for a multi-stakeholder approach to action. Plastic manufacturers need to continue working to make their operations and processes more sustainable and reduce plastic waste. They need policymakers to turn the tables of the system, water companies to invest in sewerage infrastructure, and consumers to come on board and be mindful.
Their volunteers have racked up an impressive 16,000 volunteer hours across the project. Pretty remarkable!
Check our Live Litter Map here: Tidal Thames Live Litter Map (arcgis.com)
