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10 FACTS ABOUT LITTER

March 8 , 2022

This month is Great British Spring Clean from Keep Britain Tidy. Despite being a blight on communities, harming the environment and costing millions of taxpayers money, littering remains a big problem in the UK. Here’s 10 facts about litter: More than two

More than two million pieces of litter are dropped in the UK every day
Almost 48% of people admit to dropping litter.
The amount of litter dropped each year in the UK has increased by 500% since the 1960s.
7 out of every 10 items of discarded litter is food packaging or wrappers.
Around 122 tons of cigarette butts and cigarette-related litter is dropped every day across the UK
1.3m pieces of rubbish are dropped on UK roads every weekend. 1/3 of motorists admit to littering while they are driving.
Cleaning up litter from the streets of Britain costs taxpayers around £500 million. That does not include the amount it costs to clean up parks and other public spaces.
Orange peel and banana skins take up to 2 years to biodegrade, cigarette butts take to 2 years, plastic bags take 10-20 years and plastic bottles can last forever
500,000 items of litter make their way into the sea from UK rivers every year, impacting on marine life
The canals and rivers of England and Wales could be plastic-free in a year if every visitor picked up one piece of litter, according to the The Canal and River Trust