ESTUARINE LITTER AT THE RIVER BEACH INTERFACE IN THE BRISTOL CHANNEL,UNITED-KINGDOM/

Litter found on beaches bordering the estuary of the Bristol Channel, United Kingdom, is disparate from litter representing UK/Irish Sea bea ches. The principal source of this litter is postulated as riverine in origin derived from sewage debris originating from combined sewer ove rflows and sewage/general litter obtained from fly tipping sites. Litt er from marine sources and the beach user was found in small quantitie s. Very large numbers of plastic bottles (beverages/dairy based produc ts), sanitary items and plastic cans can be found on northern shore be ach strandlines i.e. 550, 75, 210 per km at Merthyr Mawr beach, Mid-Gl amorgan, compared to a Mid Glamorgan County average of 128, 11 and 115 respectively per km. Respective County average figures found on the s outhern shore for the same items were 3, 12 and 13 per km. Results fro m Dunster, North Devon (2, 10 and 18 per km respectively) were in acco rd with these figures The bulk of the litter was UK in origin, 93% on the northern shore as against 63% on the southern.