Beachwatch 2025: What you found

87% of litter found on beach cleans in 2025, was made of plastic

Plastic pollution remains persistent across the UK and Channel Islands, making up a whopping 87% of all litter items recorded. All top five items found on beaches in 2025 were made of plastic, and plastic items were recorded on 99.5% of surveyed beaches.

The litter data from 2025 does, however, reveal signs of progress, with average litter levels across the UK and Channel Islands dropping by 15% between 2024 and 2025, while single‑use plastics presence fell by 18%. This is strong evidence that effective policies, such as the bans on various single‑use plastic items like cutlery, are making a measurable difference.

There is still a way to go though, with 158, 238 single-use plastic items being found on beaches. These results highlight the need for governments to move faster and ban more single-use plastic products, and to support businesses to shift to reusable options and systems. We can play our part too, by supporting local refill shops and using reusable cups and packaging.

95 % of cleans recorded drinks-related litter

Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) for bottles and cans are due to start across the UK in October 2027, following years of campaigning. Our 2025 Beachwatch data has acted as vital evidence for supporting the progression of these schemes and underscores the need to urgently introduce them. In 2025, drinks-related litter items were found on 95% of beach cleans, with a total of 49,771 recorded across UK and Channel Island beaches – an average of 14 items per 100m.

• Glass bottles found on 47% of beach cleans
• Metal drink cans found on 59% of beach cleans
• Plastic bottles found on 69% of beach cleans

Find out more about our work on Deposit Return Schemes that are being introduced across the UK and join our DRS Fan Club

69% of beaches surveyed in 2025 found sewage-related litter

These items include wet wipes, cotton bud sticks and sanitary products that get flushed down the toilet instead of going in the bin.

Following years of campaigning using Beachwatch data, we now have regulations laid in every country of the UK to ban plastic in single-use wet wipes. This is a fantastic success, and we will continue to monitor levels of this type of litter to ensure the bans lead to less wet wipes on our beaches.

Sewage-related debris (SRD) was found on 69% of UK beaches surveyed by Beachwatch volunteers in 2025. There was a 37.5% decrease in the average number of SRD items found per 100m of beaches surveyed across the UK between 2024 and 2025. This may be due to increased awareness of the wet wipe problem and the prominent media coverage of the bans.

Fishing and aquaculture gear was found on 93% of UK and Channel Island beaches surveyed by Beachwatch volunteers, with a 12% decrease between 2024 and 2025.

The results from Beachwatch demonstrate that we need circular solutions for fishing and aquaculture gear, as well as support for end-of-life disposal, to stop them washing up on our shores.

We’re calling on UK governments to ensure that all UK ports and harbours provide free, standardised waste reception facilities with equivalent measures for aquaculture sites and gear. The Recycle Mor and Odyssey projects in Wales are both fantastic examples of the services we would like to see made available.

We also welcome projects such as KIMOs Fishing for Litter project or Salmon Scotland’s pollution hotline service being included in national marine litter strategies, such as the one in Scotland.

14,130 wet wipes were picked up in Scotland in 2025 and were found on 40% of beaches surveyed. Wet wipes are still a major problem in certain areas of Scotland, so we were delighted to see the regulations laid in Holyrood to ban plastic in single-use wet wipes in February 2026. We’re continuing to call on the Scottish Government to phase out other single-use plastic sanitary items and provide further support for reusable options.

To help reduce sewage-related litter we have also been calling for better monitoring of Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). In 2025, coverage of monitored CSOs increased slightly from 32% to 35%, supported by enhancements to Scottish Water’s near real-time Overflow Map which has built on the progress in 2024. Although we welcome this increase, we need to see 100% of CSOs monitored, with targets to reduce the number of times they discharge into the environment to help reduce sewage-related litter.

As part of our Scottish Manifesto ahead of the Scottish Elections in May, we are calling for the next Scottish Government to make clean water a national priority by introducing a Water Bill within the first 12 months of the next parliamentary session.

We have been continuing to work closely with the Scottish Islands Federation on monitoring fishing and aquaculture litter, including a new ID guide to help improve the accuracy of Beachwatch data. We have also been trialling a specific form for fishing and aquaculture litter to complement the Beachwatch surveys so we can gather more accurate data on the types of gear washing up across the Scottish Islands.

Since we started working together in 2022, the number of surveys completed by island communities has increased by 166%. The data collected shows that there are differences in the types of litter that island communities face compared to those on the mainland, highlighting the need for policy interventions on the types of litter that affect different locations. In 2025, fishing gear and aquaculture equipment made up 34% of all litter collected on Scottish Islands, compared to only 9% on mainland beaches.

We will continue to use this data to raise awareness of the true impact that marine litter is having on island communities and the need for funding to support further clean-up activity across coastal communities.

We presented these findings at multiple conferences in 2025 and have included calls for action in our Scottish Manifesto for Scottish ports and harbours to provide free, standardised waste reception facilities for fishing gear, with equivalent measures for aquaculture sites and gear.

Thanks to advocacy, which Beachwatch data supported, the Scottish Parliament passed the Circular Economy Act in 2024 and consulted on a Circular Economy Strategy last year, taking vital steps towards a reusable society and moving away from a single-use and throwaway society.

Although the amount of drinks-related litter recorded on Scotland’s beaches decreased by 29% compared to 2024, with 12 items found per 100m, this type of litter was still found on 93% on beaches surveyed. This highlights the urgent need for the incoming Deposit Return Scheme, which is due to launch in October 2027 in line with other schemes across the UK.

Although drinks-related litter is still consistently being found on Welsh beaches, with items recorded on 95.5% of surveyed beaches in 2025, we saw a 15% decrease in this type of litter compared to 2024.

Following the exclusion granted through the UK Internal Market Act, we were delighted to see the Welsh Government lay regulations in the Senedd in February for a Welsh DRS that will include plastic, metal, and glass. This will start in October 2027 alongside the other UK nations.

We also welcome the plans to trial reuse with industry and hope to see further materials and refillable options added to all the Deposit Return Schemes across the UK soon.

Single-use plastics were found on 97% of beaches surveyed in Wales in 2025, showing the need for further action to tackle this type of plastic.

The Phase Two of single-use plastic bans have been delayed until after the Senedd Elections in May 2026. We hope the next Welsh Government will introduce this quickly which will include single-use plastic carrier bags and drinks lids as well as oxo-degradable plastics. We hope that these bans will mean we’ll see a decrease in this type of litter in the coming years.

We saw a 17% decrease in cigarette stubs on Welsh beaches compared to 2024. However, we did find this type of litter on 53% of beaches surveyed in 2025. This highlights the need for a ban on single-use plastic filters which we have been calling for, alongside bans on other smoking-related litter items like disposable vapes.

An average of 15 fishing litter items per 100m of beach was found across Wales in 2025. This is a 50% increase from 2024. With projects like Recycle Mor and Odyssey being excellent examples of collection and recycling of end-of-life gear it shows the need to roll similar projects out across Wales.

You can read more about our marine litter asks in Wales in our Manifesto for Welsh Seas.

There was an average of 12 items of fishing-related litter per 100m of beach surveyed, the same as in 2024. This type of litter was found on 91% of beaches surveyed.

We’re calling on the UK Government to ensure all UK ports and harbours provide free, standardised waste reception facilities with equivalent measures for aquaculture sites and gear.

Sewage-related litter (SRD) saw a 37.5% decrease in England in 2025 compared to 2024, with. these items found on 73% of beaches. Volunteers recorded wet wipes on 60% of beaches surveyed in 2025, removing 3,046 of them.

Although it’s positive to see a decrease of them being found last year this may be due to a dry summer leading to reduced spills from storm overflows. It is, therefore, clear that the ban on plastic in single-use wet wipes is needed and will come into force in England in May 2027. We’re also calling on UK Government to phase out other single-use plastic sanitary items, introduce mandatory ‘Do not Flush’ labelling for all wet wipes and other sanitary products, and support reusable options.

We joined 40 organisations in demanding that the UK Government fixes England’s broken water system, clamping down on polluters to stop sewage pollution which leads to SRD washing up on our shores.

The amount of drinks litter found on England's beaches decrease 12% from 2024, with items recorded on 95% of beaches surveyed in 2025 and an average of 15 found per 100m.

These results reinforce our calls for Deposit Return Schemes for plastic and metal drinks containers to start by the promised date of October 2027. We also want to see a circular solution for glass in place, either through a Deposit Return Scheme or other Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme, and for the schemes to be designed with the ambition of shifting to reuse and refill schemes in the future.