Sep 19, 2010 - Beachwatch Big Weekend is the Marine Conservation Society's (MCS) ... England, Scotland, Wales, Northern
Marine Conservation Society Beachwatch Big Weekend 2010 - Executive Summary
Beachwatch Big Weekend is the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) nationwide beach litter clean-up and survey, held on the third weekend in September every year to coincide with the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) taking place in over 70 countries. Beachwatch Big Weekend was launched in 1993 and the main aims are to: Increase awareness of beach litter and its impacts; Monitor and report on the quantities and sources of beach litter; and Take action to reduce beach litter at source. Beachwatch Big Weekend 2010 th
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On 18 and 19 September 2010, the 17 annual Beachwatch Big Weekend litter survey and beach cleanup took place on beaches around the UK. A total of 376 beaches - covering 167.6km of coastline in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands - were cleaned and surveyed by 4,927 volunteers. In total 330,107 items of litter were removed from beaches.
Beachwatch Big Weekend 2010 summary Beachwatch 2010 Summary Volunteers Number of beaches surveyed Total length surveyed (km) Number of bags % Public % Fishing % Sewage-Related Debris* % Shipping % Fly tipped % Medical % Non-sourced Total number of items Total volunteer hours Mean items/km
4,927 376 167.6 3,058 37.4 15.3 7.3 1.8 1.0 0.3 37.1 330,107 10579 1,969.7
*If data from three beaches (where over 9,433 cotton bud sticks were recorded are removed), the percentage for SRD is 2.9%.
MCS Beachwatch Big Weekend 2010 recorded an average of 1,969 litter items for every km of beach surveyed. This is a 6.5% increase in litter density compared with 2009 results (when 1,849items/km was recorded). Whilst this is a relatively small change, our long-term data set shows that the overall trend in litter is still increasing and we have recorded a 88.5% rise in average density of litter on UK beaches since Beachwatch Big Weekend 1994 (when 1,045 items/km was recorded).
Comparison of results from MCS Beachwatch Big Weekend 1994 – 2010
Year
Number of Beaches Surveyed
Total Length Surveyed (km)
Total Items
Items/km
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
173 202 203 210 257 171 150 194 229 244 269 332 358 354 374
204.0 193.0 196.0 168.8 166.7 91.8 104.2 141.3 150.0 134.8 145.2 170.7 187.6 168.5 175.7
197,346 305,741 291,228 262,349 322,751 175,560 185,482 222,704 241,285 279,847 275,594 338,196 373,048 346,054 385,659
1,045 1,654 1,482 1,554 1,936 1,913 1,780 1,576 1,609 2,075 1,897 1,981 1,989 2,054 2,195
2009
397
185.0
342,151
1,849
2010
376
167.6
330,107
1,969
Mean items of litter/km recorded in MCS Beachwatch Big Weekend surveys 1994- 2010
2,000 1,500 1,000 500
Year
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
0 1994
Litter items / km
2,500
The Most Common Litter Items The 20 most common items found during MCS Beachwatch Big Weekend 2010 comprise 80.7% of the total litter found. The top 10 items alone accounted for 64.1% of the total litter and almost all of these items are entirely or partially made of plastic. Small plastic pieces were the number one item found on UK beaches and have been the number one item found in consecutive MCS Beachwatch Big Weekend surveys since 1998.
Top 20 litter items recorded in MCS Beachwatch Big Weekend 2010 Position 2009
Position 2010
1 2 4 5 3 6 9 8 7 11
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
13 12
11 12
14 15 10 17 16 19 32 18
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Litter item Plastic pieces 2.5 cm Plastic rope/cord/string Plastic caps/lids Crisp/sweet/lolly wrappers Polystyrene pieces Cotton bud sticks Fishing net and net pieces
