The actuality of plastic air pollution was horrifically clear when this river overflowed.
Trees and bushes alongside its banks had been draped with ragged blue plastic luggage.
The air pollution is tainting a pocket of nature in east London, a haven the place kingfishers may be seen darting into the water, bream come to spawn and black poplars, Britain’s rarest tree, develop beside the water.
The scene makes seen what usually goes unseen – as plastic garbage dropped within the water usually wends its approach into the ocean.
The stunning photographs come because the Great British Spring Clean 2021, which is organised by Keep Britain Tidy, calls on our loyal military of readers to assist make the nation cleaner and greener.
The actuality of plastic air pollution was horrifically clear when this river overflowed. Trees and bushes alongside its banks had been draped with ragged blue plastic luggage. The air pollution is tainting a pocket of nature in Hackney, east London
The ugly waste, together with moist wipes and flimsy plastic luggage hanging on timber and bushes at Hackney Marshes in east London, has a number of sources.
Some got here from the overflow of sewage outfalls – loaded with garbage resembling sanitary towels and moist wipes – into the River Lea, as seen throughout heavy rains in February.
Other detritus, resembling litter and microplastics from automobile tyres and brake pads, was washed in from the roads.
It is a scene being performed out at rivers and canals throughout the UK.
Environmentalist Julian Kirby campaigned towards plastic with Friends of the Earth and now works for not-for-profit organisation Plastic-Free Hackney.
He stated final evening: ‘The polluting plastic smearing the banks and branches of my favorite native beauty spot is simply the tiniest fraction of what handed by way of throughout these winter rains.
‘So rather more was swept straight out to sea the place it would final for tons of of years not less than.
‘This will solely change when Boris Johnson and his ministers get critical about this plastic air pollution disaster.
The ugly waste, together with moist wipes and flimsy plastic luggage hanging on timber and bushes at Hackney Marshes in east London, has a number of sources
‘They speak a good speak however, to borrow one of the PM’s favorite expressions, their response has been piffling.
‘An issue as huge and complicated as plastic air pollution requires a rigorously thought-about, strategic strategy pushed by authorized targets.’
Tim Evans, of the Hackney Marshes User Group, which carries out litter picks within the space, stated that no official physique would take accountability.
He stated: ‘This space is a hidden treasure. This stretch of the river is each ecologically useful and actually lovely.
‘But it has a horrible waste downside. There’s plastic garbage and sewage, it is a sophisticated matter.’
Sewage is believed to overflow at an outlet in Tottenham, north London.
Mr Evans stated there are additionally regarded as rogue plumbing installations at websites alongside the river the place folks flush waste immediately into the water ‘a number of instances a yr’.
The garbage seen on the marsh would usually wend its approach into the Thames, then into the ocean.
Some of the garbage washes on to seashores alongside the Thames.
Mr Evans added: ‘I discover it very upsetting. I’ve been strolling on marshes for greater than 30 years. I’ve helped plant timber on the marshes. I actually adore it particularly down by the river, it is very, very upsetting to see it so tousled.’
The volunteers are left to select up the garbage as it isn’t clear which council ought to take care of it.
Mr Evans stated: ‘We wish to work out which authority is accountable for this stretch of the river. It’s not navigable, so the Canals and Rivers Trust should not accountable.
‘Hackney Council is simply accountable for the riverbank, and never the river itself.
‘The Environment Agency has some accountability for air pollution hazards within the water.
But we try to make clear with them how a lot they’re ready to do.’
Mr Evans added: ‘The kingfishers and cormorants are there, however we do not know for a way for much longer, as if the fish cannot dwell within the water, that is going to be a huge change.’
