The British Plastics Federation has thrown its support behind Hubbub’s ‘For Fish’s Sake’ (#FFSLDN) campaign, which aims to prevent litter from ending up in the River Thames.
Over 300 tonnes of litter is cleared from the Thames each year, and a significant amount of this is caused by ‘tidy littering’, where someone places an item somewhere neatly instead of using a bin.
54 per cent of Londoners say they’ve seen a person leave litter by a bin, but this can then be blown into the Thames.
Gavin Ellis, co-founder of Hubbub, said: “Our research shows that just over half of Londoners who admit to dropping litter do so accidently and 43 per cent said they do it when they can’t see a bin nearby. We’ve witnessed many commuters balancing their empty drinks containers on the side of London Bridge in the hope someone will clear up after them. These cups are blowing into the river and this type of behaviour is happening across the city. Many people don’t think of themselves as ‘someone who drops litter’, because they’re carefully placing it somewhere. When close to the Thames there is a good chance this will end up in the river.”
Hubbub estimates that 74 per cent of litter in the Thames is food based, and that the majority of litter comes from land, as opposed to being dropped directly in.
The research also found that 7 in 10 Londoners think the Thames is too polluted for fish to survive, whereas it is actually home to over 125 species of fish, as well as dolphins, seals, and sea horses.