The annual Beachwatch event, organised by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) helps build up a picture of the extent of man-made rubbish polluting Britain's coastline.

Data is used to identify the major polluters and establish recommendations for action that will reduce the sources of marine and beach litter worldwide.

The MCS says plastic accounts for nearly half the total beach litter, which shows the increasing trend towards using plastic in packaging instead of bio-degradable substances.

At last year's Beachwatch, there were items found on the beaches from France, from Canada and from the US

Helen Humphries, Marine Conservation Society

The charity says discarded debris affects wildlife including birds, mammals and turtles.

It also poses a health risk to beach visitors and harms local economies through lost tourism revenue and repeated clean-up costs.

Last year, almost a quarter of a million of items of rubbish were picked up from beaches around the UK.

Marine litter comes from many sources, including sewage discharges, illegal dumping by ships, direct littering by tourists and discarded waste from fishing vessels.

It is carried to sea by rivers and streams and can be transported all over the world by ocean tides and currents.

Whale's demise

Helen Humphries from MCS said: "At last year's Beachwatch, there were items found on the beaches from France, from Canada and from the USA.

"More recently, in April, a Minke whale was found on the shores of Normandy and they analysed its stomach to see how it had died and they found two English supermarket bags in it and a couple of English crisp packets in it as well.

"It is important to recognise that litter that's on beaches can also be carried further afield by the tides and currents."

During the Beachwatch 2001 survey about 2,000 volunteers collected over 222,704 items of litter from 194 beaches across the UK.