# Marine Conservation Society reveals weirdest beach finds of 2021

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/12/29/marine-conservation-society-reveals-weirdest-beach-finds-of-2021/
- Published: 2021-12-29T09:17:00+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Shotgun cartridges, a bus chair, false toenails and a CCTV camera are among some
of the oddest items found by volunteers cleaning up the UK’s beaches in 2021, the
Marine Conservation Society has revealed.**

Overall, results from this year’s Great British Beach Clean, a week of beach cleaning
events across the UK and funded thanks to players of [People’s Postcode Lottery](https://www.postcodelottery.co.uk/),
found litter levels to be dropping, suggesting that policies like plastic bag charges
and single-use plastic bans are having an impact.

However, 75% of all beach litter collected was made of plastic or polystyrene, and
plastic pieces remain the most prevalent form of litter, with an average of 112 
pieces found for every 100 metres of UK beach surveyed. 

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Last year’s Great British Beach Clean found PPE [on 30% of beaches](https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/11/06/great-british-beach-clean-finds-ppe-on-almost-30-of-uk-beaches/).

**Some of the items found by beach clean volunteers:**

·        CCTV camera

·        Hearing aid

·        4 cabbages and 30 orange peels

·        Shotgun cartridges

·        Sofa

·        Bus chair

·        Tool box

·        False toenails

·        Carpet

Lizzie Prior, Beachwatch Manager at the [Marine Conservation Society](https://www.mcsuk.org/)
said: 

> “It’s great to see litter levels continuing to drop on our beaches, but the massive
> amount of plastic we’re still finding is certainly cause for concern.
>  
> “Our dedicated volunteers head to the beach year-round to collect litter and data
> which is vital to our work. Sometimes, what they find is a little more unusual,
> and doesn’t quite fit into our survey form’s categories!”

Last week Barnardo’s revealed [the weirdest donations](https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/12/22/barnardos-reveals-2021s-weird-wacky-charity-shop-donations/)
its shops had received this year – from a used toilet brush to carrots ends.

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