Campaigners have said the government has failed to acknowledge how the shipping and fishing industries are fuelling the plastic pollution crisis.
It comes as Theresa May unveiled the Government’s 25-year plan for the environment, including extending the 5p carrier bag charge and encouraging plastic-free supermarket aisles.
The Prime Minister said plastic waste is causing ‘immense suffering’ to marine life, with one million birds and more than 100,000 sea mammals and turtles dying after eating or getting tangled up in plastic.
However wildlife conservationist Steve Trewhella said the government had failed to identify the shipping and fishing industries as two of the biggest culprits.
Mr Trewhella said marine wildlife will continue to suffer until the government tackled this overlooked issue.
Mr Trewhella said much of the plastic waste he finds has come from the shipping and fishing industries
A conservationist has said the government has failed to acknowledge how the shipping and fishing industries are fuelling the plastic pollution crisis
He shared photos of items such as lobster pots, fishing crates, nets and rubber gloves used in the industries that regularly wash up on Dorset’s beaches having been thrown overboard.
Mr Trewhella, who regularly organises beach cleans on Dorset’s Jurassic coast, said the majority of litter he picks up from the beach are items dumped in the sea from boats.
He said: ‘We do regular beach cleans and most of the litter we find is from the shipping and fishing industry – things like netting, pallets, oil drums, grease tubes, fish boxes, ropes and plastic bottles.
‘We’ve found hundreds of rubber gloves that are used in the fishing industry all over the world for handling things like lobster pots.
‘The Marine Society say beach visitors’ rubbish is the main source of litter but a lot of it is misidentified or unidentified because the people doing the surveys are just members of the public and might not realise a piece of plastic is a bit of broken fish box and the real issue is downplayed.
‘We have worked tirelessly over the last 15 years to identify marine litter and along the south coast – Dorset, Cornwall and Devon – we get litter washing up on our beaches from all over the world.
‘I’ve found lobster crates from Canada and buoys from Florida. After a particularly big storm the dominant litter on our beaches is transatlantic debris which has travelled 6,000 miles.
‘I’m all for banning microbeads and things like that but even if the government brought in a plastic bottle exchange today we would still see thousands washing up.
Mr Trewhella, who regularly organises beach cleans on Dorset’s Jurassic coast, said the majority of litter he picks up from the beach are items dumped in the sea from boats
‘The majority we find are water bottles, lots of ships need to take bottled water with them. We found 2,000 on one beach clean at Kimmeridge in the depth of winter, that’s not from people walking on the beach.
‘There are hundreds of millions of tonnes of plastic in the sea, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
‘There’s no strategy from the government or authorities to make sure that when a boat takes something to sea, it comes back with it.’
Mr Trewhella, from Wareham, in Dorset, added: ‘I’m astonished that everybody on the planet is suddenly in shock that there’s plastic in the sea after Blue Planet…we have been doing beach cleans for 30 or 40 years now.
‘It’s a huge problem and we’re going to reach a point where we can’t eat things from the sea anymore.
‘The statistics are terrifying. Ninety per cent of the world’s sea bird population have plastic in their stomachs.
‘Plastic has only been around for 70 years and yet almost every single sea bird on the planet has plastic in their stomachs.’
The pile of plastic waste dumped on Kimmeridge Bay, in Dorset, will have far-reaching effects on marine life, as well as making its way into our food
His comments came as nature groups today welcomed the measures promised by the Prime Minister, with proposed policies including plastics-free aisles in supermarkets and a tax on takeaway containers.
But they warned more rapid and widespread action – particularly on climate change – was needed to protect the natural environment.
Tanya Steele, chief executive of WWF, said she hoped the 25-year plan marked a ‘turning point where we start restoring our environment rather than destroying it’.
‘Urgent action is needed on plastic pollution, dirty air, changes to our climate and protecting our precious natural heritage, here in the UK and around the world.
‘But these commitments will only become a reality if they are backed by the force of law, money and a new environmental watchdog,’ she warned.
Friends of the Earth’s chief executive Craig Bennett said: ‘A long-term vison for protecting our environment is essential, but the Government can’t keep turning a blind eye to the urgent action needed now to protect our health and planet from toxic air and climate-wrecking pollution.
‘It’s time to stop tinkering at the margins and get to the heart of the problems – especially the nation’s fossil fuels addiction.
‘Ministers must pull the plug on coal, gas and oil, end its support for fracking and develop the UK’s huge renewable power potential.’
Greenpeace UK’s executive director John Sauven said the natural environment needed a ’25-month emergency plan’ more than it needed a 25-year vision, with urgent action from the Government.