Thames21 joins forces with St Paul's School

Pupils swapped satchels for bin bags to help the clean up charity clear unsightly and harmful litter last Saturday from the foreshore by Hammersmith Bridge

A spokesman from Thames 21 said, ‘The involvement of young people in our work to clean up the river is vital as their attitudes to the environment will help shape the future of the River Thames and we’re delighted St Paul’s and other local groups are keen to get stuck in.’

Amongst the rubbish collected by the 36 volunteers there was:

• 1 construction site barrier
• 1 traffic cone
• 5-7 tires
• Loads of socks and a bra!

Volunteers discovered that one of the most common and harmful items of litter clogging up the River Thames are plastics. ‘Plastic ring pulls, plastic cups, plastic bottles and of course, plastic bags are clogging up London’s waterways and harming local wildlife and the wider marine environment.’

Although the river Thames is today one of the cleanest city rivers in Europe, at least 1,000 tonnes of rubbish is removed from the tidal Thames every year, and the charity warns that much more litter is washed out to sea with devastating effects on marine life. Sea turtles are regularly killed by swallowing plastic bags which they mistake for jelly fish.