Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 7 hrs ago
Volunteers count wet wipes washed up on the River Thames
About 40 volunteers searched the Thames riverbank near Hammersmith Bridge in London for wet wipes buried in mud and debris.
The count is part of a citizen science project run by environmental charity Thames21, which has tracked sanitary litter on the riverbanks for nearly a decade.
Volunteers mark out sections, search the riverbed and record the wipes they find, adding the results to a pollution database.
Many wipes contain plastic fibres and remain intact when wet, including some sold as biodegradable.
London’s flushed wipes can reach the river through storm water overflows and sewage outfalls; Thames Water estimates 3.8 billion wipes enter its network each year.
The litter can break down into microplastics and reach the ocean and food system, so the project aims to document and remove plastic before it spreads.
The findings will continue to build the project’s dataset on pollution along the Thames.
Forty volunteers searched for wet wipes along a 250-metre stretch of the River Thames foreshore under Hammersmith Bridge.
The count is part of a Thames21 citizen science project that has tracked sanitary litter on the riverbanks for nearly a decade.
Volunteers recorded the wipes they found and placed them in buckets for disposal.
Thames Water estimates that 3.8 billion wipes are flushed into its network each year.
The project aims to measure plastic pollution and remove plastic before it can become microplastic in the ocean.
- Who
- Forty volunteers, including regular volunteer Elio Gregori, took part in the count.
- What
- They searched for and recorded wet wipes washed up on the Thames foreshore.
- When
- On a Sunday morning; the date of the count is not stated.
- Where
- A 250-metre stretch of the Thames foreshore under Hammersmith Bridge.
- Why
- The count is part of a project to measure sanitary litter and plastic pollution on the riverbanks.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Thames21’s citizen science project has tracked sanitary litter on the banks of the Thames.
Forty volunteers searched a 250-metre stretch of foreshore under Hammersmith Bridge and recorded wet wipes.
- Volunteers
- 40
- Survey stretch
- 250 metres under Hammersmith Bridge
- Project organiser
- Thames21
- Wipes flushed into Thames Water’s network each year
- 3.8 billion
- Regular volunteer
- Elio Gregori, 66, has attended about 300 sessions
What people are saying
But through this data generation, we’ve created this dataset of really robust, accurate data that’s given us an understanding of the wet wipes here on the foreshore.
We want to remove plastic here so that it doesn’t become microplastic in the ocean.
You’re on the inside of a bend of the river so the water velocities are slower
When it’s in the environment, you wouldn’t really recognise it as a wet wipe.
Sources
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