There is still a long way to go to ensure our beaches are clean and safe places for people and wildlife to be

Karen Riley of the MCS

But, according to an MCS spokesman, these new lower levels were still unacceptable, and threatened marine creatures as well as spoiling the natural beauty of the coasts.

Of the total amount of litter retrieved, 31% came from beach visitors. Added to that was a high proportion - 18% - made up of fishing waste, such as old nets and lines.

Around the the UK as a whole, almost 2,000 volunteers recorded and removed 222,704 pieces of debris from 194 beaches around the country on 15 and 16 September last year.

False teeth

Over a third was found to have been dropped by holidaymakers or daytrippers with 11,894 crisp and sweet packets and 6,647 cigarette stubs recorded.

Among the more unusual items of rubbish picked up by volunteers was a plastic banana, a pair of false teeth and a boomerang.

Karen Riley of MCS said the new figures for the 2001 campaign showed an 11.5% drop on the previous year.

"Although encouraging news, this level is still higher than that recorded in 1994," she said.

Volunteers picked up 16,783 pieces of litter

"There is still a long way to go to ensure our beaches are clean and safe places for people and wildlife to be."

Environment Minister Michael Meacher said while attitudes were beginning to change, the figures showed there "still more litter on our beaches than in 1994".

"We continue to encourage the public and stakeholders to take much more responsibility for their litter in order to keep our beaches safe and clean," he said.

"Over the last year I have been involved with a number of litter initiatives including the Thames 21 scheme and I am currently reviewing legislation to see whether we can introduce better measures to stop litter from entering the aquatic environment."

Marine litter is on the agenda of the North Sea Ministerial Conference, which opens in Norway on 20 March.