Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the quantity of plastics washed up on UK beaches in each year since 2015.

Data from Marine Conservation Society’s Great British Beach Clean show consistent levels of litter on UK beaches. The information is in the table below:

MCS have found that plastic fragments, fishing-related litter and packaging are the most common types of litter found, with variable trends in the specific categories. This is consistent with the findings in our recent National Environment Indicators.