A woman holding up a piece of plastic wrapping using a litter picker to the camera. She is wearing a Marine Conservation Society vest. She is situated on a beach. The camera focus is on the wrapping making the woman blurry in the background.

Top 10 tricky litter items

During beach cleans we often come across litter we're not sure how to classify. We've created a top 10 list of tricky items and where to record them on your survey form.
Find a beach clean near you

If you find an item that you're unsure of, simply record it as ‘other’ in the most appropriate material category and write a description of the item e.g. Plastic – Other – Vape Container. The Beachwatch team can then verify and move it if needed.

Check out our litter guide to help you know where to record them.

Litter ID guide

1. Bag ends

Category 1: Plastic – Sub Category: Bag ends – Source: Non-sourced

Whilst this litter item sounds like it is referring to bits of a plastic shopping bag, it's actually the part that remains from tear-off single-use bags which you would commonly see behind the check-out in supermarkets: Packs of 10, 20, 50 or so plastic bags would be attached to these while in the shop. So, this litter item refers to the part that remains after tearing off the bags, and it is usually quite rare to find these on a beach. If you find pieces of plastic shopping bag, pop them in Category: Bags (e.g. shopping) or Category: Bags - Small (e.g. freezer/vegetable).

2. Tea bags

Category 1: Plastic – Sub Category: Packets: Crisp / sweet / lolly (inc sticks) / sandwich / plastic food packets and food wrappers – Source: Public

Plastic crisps packets/sweets wrappers, plastic food packets and wrappers created and designed in various colours, materials, shapes, sizes and styles for crisp food products (i.e. potato chips, etc.) or sweets (i.e. chocolates, ice-creams, etc.).

Why put them in plastic food wrappers? Because many tea bags contain a plastic skeleton which won’t biodegrade.

3. Plant pots

Category 1: Plastic – Sub Category: Toys / party poppers / fireworks / dummies – Source: Public

A plastic container in which plants are grown. To be recorded under Toys/ party poppers / fireworks, etc.

4. Hair bands

Category 3: Cloth – Sub Category: Clothing / shoes / beach towels – Source: Public

Headwear made of natural or artificial polymer materials should be recorded as clothing.

5. Golf tees and golf balls

Category 1: Plastic – Sub Category: Toys / party poppers / fireworks / dummies – Source: Public

Small hard dimpled balls used in golf, typically made up of a plastic outer and rubber inner core. Golf tees are typically thin plastic or wooden and two or three inches in height.

6. Goggles, arm bands, snorkels

Category 1: Plastic – Sub Category: Toys / party poppers / fireworks / dummies – Source: Public

Any plastic object that children play with, as well as objects commonly used at parties. Armbands are typically made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) a synthetic plastic polymer.

7. Socks and swimming costumes

Category 3: Cloth – Sub Category: Clothing / shoes / beach towels – Source: Public

Any type of clothes, garments and headwear made of natural or artificial polymer materials.

8. Ear plugs and nasal clips

Category 10: Medical – Sub Category: Medical Other – Source: Medical

Earplugs are made from a number of different materials, including polyvinyl chloride or polyurethane, a type of memory foam and silicone. It’s best to record under 'Medical Other' to capture all of these.

9. Dolly ropes

Category 1: Plastic – Sub Category: Tangled dolly rope – Source: Fishing

Strings and filaments from blue, black or orange string that are used to protect bottom trawling nets against wear and tear. A dolly rope consists of around 30 strings; each string has around 25 threads.

10. Footballs

Category 1: Plastic – Sub Category: Toys / party poppers / fireworks / dummies – Source: Public

Any plastic object that children play with, as well as objects commonly used at parties. Footballs are made of many different materials including synthetic leather, usually polyurethane or polyvinyl chloride, stitched around an inflated rubber or rubber-like bladder or a simple plastic kids football.

It’s important to try and categorise things based on what the majority of the item is made from but also it source so that we can better identify where the litter comes from in the first place.

By categorising footballs in plastic toys we can identify them as a public type of litter rather than non-source if we were to place them in 'Rubber, Other' for example.