Cigarette butts and tiny plastics are some of the most commonly found litter, now researchers with Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup found an increase in single-use plastic packaging and PPE.
According to the outreach specialist for the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup Julia Wakeling, the presence of single-use plastics litter has nearly doubled.
“We were startled to see that single-use food and beverage litter increased from 15.3% of all litter in 2019 to 26.6% in 2020," Wakeling said.
Wakeling said the increase can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We suspect the change may be one of the many implications of COVID-19, including more people ordering restaurant takeaway and consuming more individually packaged foods.”
The report also showed that personal protective equipment was found on the shorelines for the first time.
“We didn’t have a category on our data cards last year to formally track the amount of PPE-related litter volunteers were finding, but we have added one for 2021,” Wakeling said.
President and CEO of Ocean Wise Lasse Gustavsson said plastic pollution is one of the greatest threats facing the ocean.
“Plastic has become omnipresent in our daily lives and yet each decision we make at work, at home, at school or out and about, has the potential to have a positive impact,” Gustavsson said.
WWF-Canada’s president and CEO Megan Leslie said wildlife can often mistake plastic for food.
“Every piece of garbage we remove from our freshwater and marine shorelines is one less piece that can harm wildlife. We are so grateful to all of our Shoreline Cleanup volunteers for their efforts to protect wildlife habitat and hope all Canadians will join us this year in taking action to help nature thrive,” Leslie said.
Read the complete report from Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup here.
