139 bags of rubbish collected during 'Plasticblitz' litter pick along River Thames
A plastic crocodile head was among the items found
A fake crocodile head is among thousands of pieces of rubbish picked up during a large clear up operation along the Thames.
The scheme known at Plasticblitz saw teams carry out 25 litter picks across 16 miles of river bank from west of Swindon through to Woking and Hampton.
In total, 139 bin bags were filled and the worst plastic offenders were drinks bottles and crisp packets.
More unusually, the teams also removed a floating fake crocodile head, a large paddling pool, a toilet brush and a model of R2D2.
The data showed that drink containers are a major source of the plastic problem – over 34% of the total items removed were linked to the drinks industry.
Wildlife is also harmed by littering and in three separate locations dead voles were found trapped in drinks bottles.
Environment Agency Waterways Manager Maria Herlihy said:
“Plasticblitz was a collective effort to clean up the River Thames and its tributaries, and at the same time collect data on the type of litter being found.
"We found nearly 5,000 pieces of plastic and each and every one of these had the potential to break down into many smaller pieces of microplastics after they washed out into our seas”.