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London is literally swimming in a sea of rubbish. In more bad news for the capital, the watery jewel in London’s crown, the Thames, reportedly contains more microplastics than any river in the world. Uh oh.
Reporting from the river’s shore in Fulham, an article by the BBC called the Thames ‘disgusting and depressing’. It said there was every kind of plastic, including ‘plastic bottles, sunglasses, cotton buds, wet wipes, food wrappers and cartons’ in our wonderful waterways.
According to the report, different parts of the river have gathered different types of plastic. Parts of west London are particularly bad, including the disgusting sounding ‘wet wipe island’ in Hammersmith.
Researchers from charity Thames21, which pulls 200 tonnes of plastic from the river every year, think the Thames has the most microplastics out of any river in the world. The damning BBC article also called it a ‘graveyard of plastic waste’
Microplastics are plastic fragments or particles that are 5 mm in size or less. Plastic that's dumped in the river breaks down and makes its way into the food chain after fish and other water creatures eat them. Last week, microplastics were found in breastmilk for the first time. Macroplastics (bigger than 5 mm) are also an issue in the Thames, but London isn't the worst in the world for that. Phew.
Zara Visanji from Thames21 said: 'We have been collecting samples at Sunbury-on-Thames, the freshwater side of the River Thames. And we have found, of all the partners, we have the highest concentration of microplastics.' The charity also collected samples from Croatia, Holland and Venice.
So there you have it, the Thames is a cesspit of rubbish, plastic and dirt. Aren't we lucky?
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