Britain’s coastline is now more littered than at any time since records began, according to the Marine Conservation Society. Each kilometre has 2,195 pieces of junk on it on average. The amount of plastic rubbish has tripled since the last survey in 1994.

The West Country is the filthiest coastline in the country with more than 5,000 pieces of trash per kilometre. Litter is often mistaken for food by marine wildlife and causes starvation, poisoning and fatal internal blockages.

Even where plastic has broken down it is still in evidence: some beaches were found to have 5,000 plastic fibres per litre of sand and pellets of plastic consumed by fish then get into the food chain.

The MCS has called for an official marine litter strategy to combat the problem.