Great British Beach Clean 2022 results

What did the results show?

5,261 dedicated volunteers took part in our Great British Beach Clean 2022. An amazing 30 miles of beach was cleaned across the UK with litter items recorded over the ten days - the results are now in!

• Our amazing volunteers helped to pick up over 141,048 pieces of litter, weighing in almost 4,000kg - roughly the weight of 26 bottlenose dolphins.
• In positive news, the average litter recorded per 100 metres is dropping year-on-year across the UK. An average of 369 items were found in 2022, compared to averages of 385 in 2021, 425 in 2020, and 558 in 2019.
• In other good news, although cigarette stubs are still being found on 60% of cleans, their numbers have decreased by 25% since 2021.
• Unfortunately, 93% of beaches around the UK found drinks-related litter (including glass and plastic bottles, cans, caps and lids), backing our longstanding call for a Deposit Return Schemes to be introduced to tackle this form of ocean pollution.
• Wet wipes and sanitary items have seen a huge increase of 77%, particularly in Scotland.

Dr Laura Foster, Head of Clean Seas at the Marine Conservation Society said, “It’s good news that litter levels are dropping, albeit slowly, and we know that governments’ actions have been shown to be highly effective, from introducing carrier bag charges to the banning of certain single-use plastic items.

The results from this year's Great British Beach Clean revealed drinks-related litter featured in the top five most common items for each country, and came sixth overall for the UK. There is a solution to these high levels of litter – implementing Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) throughout the UK. Scottish Government will be introducing its own DRS next year and the rest of the UK should be taking note of this success and aim to follow suit.

• In Wales, 561 volunteers took part in the Great British Beach Clean 2022. Together, they cleaned and surveyed nearly 3 miles of beach and collected 316kg of litter across 41 events.
• Volunteers in Wales recorded a 23% decrease in number of litter items collected per 100m stretch of beach compared to 2021 (319 items in 2022 vs 414 items in 2021).
• The most common type of litter found on Welsh beaches was plastic in origin, accounting for 77% of all litter collected in Wales.
• Cigarette stubs was the the second most prevalent litter item found on Welsh beaches, with an average of 35 stubs found per 100m stretch of beach.
• Wales is unique among UK nations in seeing the return of plastic bags to the list of top ten items (with an average of 8 bags per 100m stretch).
• Nearly half (47%) of rubbish found in this year's Great British Beach Clean in Wales was identified as public litter (litter that has not been disposed of correctly).

• A total of 4,601 litter items were collected by 58 volunteers over 500m of beach surveyed during the Great British Beach Clean 2022.
• An average total of 920 items were found per 100m of beach in Northern Ireland, a 24% decrease from 2021.
• Over 70% of all litter found on Northern Ireland beaches was plastic or polystyrene in origin.
• 100% of beaches surveyed in Northern Ireland this year found drinks-related litter items (including glass and plastic bottles, cans, caps and lids).

Please note: Although litter survey numbers in Northern Ireland are growing thanks to our fantastic volunteers, survey submissions are lower than other parts of the UK. As a consequence, care should be taken when interpreting the results as a national average.

Thank you for everyone who took part in an inland clean during the Great British Beach Clean this year. Head to our Source to Sea Litter Quest page to see the results: Source to Sea Litter Quest