After the June 2021 litter pick two volunteers sorted the collected litter by brand and sent the data to Surfers Against Sewage as part of their national survey*. The results of the national survey from 600 events including beach cleans are now available
Nationally, the top polluting brands are: Coca-Cola, Walkers, McDonalds, Cadbury, Tesco, Lucozade, Costa Coffee, Mars Wrigley and Haribo. Interestingly, the report confirmed our own findings that Red Bull topped the list in Eastern England. I’m not sure what that says about us compared with the rest of the country!
Of the unbranded items, the largest single group were tobacco related (e.g. cigarette stubs) followed by drinks packaging and alcohol bottles and can. Only 2.5% of pollution collected was categorised as PPE (disposable face masks etc).
It’s an interesting read and not too long. *Surfers Against Sewage 021 Citizen Science Brand Audit Report https://www.sas.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/SAS-BrandAudit2021-Digital.pdf