‘It’s not glamorous’: the volunteers counting flushed wet wipes on the banks of the Thames
Volunteers from the charity Thames21 are working to track and quantify plastic pollution, specifically flushed wet wipes, along the banks of the River Thames. The project uses citizen science to build a robust dataset on environmental waste.
Why it matters
This initiative highlights the growing issue of non-biodegradable waste in urban waterways and the role of public participation in environmental monitoring.
Volunteers looking for flushed wet wipes on the Thames foreshire near Hammersmith Bridge. Volunteers looking for flushed wet wipes on the Thames foreshire near Hammersmith Bridge. Pollution ‘It’s not glamorous’: the volunteers counting flushed wet wipes on the banks of the Thames A Thames21 charity citizen science project helps track plastic pollution in the capital’s river
Prefer the Guardian on Google O n a pale-blue Sunday morning on the foreshore of the River Thames, 40 people are searching for what others have tried to lose. Dotted across a 250-metre stretch under Hammersmith Bridge, they are combing through layers of silt, seashells and dirty driftwood to find one of the river’s most stubborn problems: wet wipes.
“People come and walk here and it looks just like mud, at a distance,” says the organiser, Dr Felicity Rhodes. “And then you get closer in and see.”
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