A new report, ’The River Thames: Plastic Bottle Pollution’ reveals that close to 68,000 plastic bottles were collected from the River Thames in just three years, of which nearly 50% were water bottles.
To better understand the extent of plastic bottle pollution in London’s River Thames, the #OneLess campaign teamed up with the charity Thames21 in April 2016 to conduct bottle surveys along the Thames and produce this report.
#OneLess is working to tackle ocean plastic pollution at source by creating a city-wide refillable culture to encourage people to breakaway from plastic bottled water.
It is hosted by international conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London) in collaboration with Forum for the Future, The International Programme on the State of the Ocean, and the Thames Estuary Partnership.
The report reveals a total of 67,399 single-use plastic bottles were collected and removed from the shores of the River Thames over a three-year period.
Around half of all bottles collected were categorised by type – of those, 42% were water bottles. Further analysis also revealed that significantly more bottles were counted and recorded during the warmer months (spring and summer).
The report is released as part of a new campaign from #OneLess, Hello London; Goodbye Ocean Plastic, which aims to position London as a city that no longer uses single-use plastic water bottles and to inform visitors about the sustainable alternatives available.
Click here to read the full report.
Click here to find out more about the #OneLess movement and how you and your business, organisation or community can get involved.
If you would like to become a citizen scientist with Thames21 and get involved with collecting vital data that provides a valuable insight into London’s plastic problem then visit www.thames21.org.uk/thames-river-watch.
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