Fast food packaging accounts for '88% of world's coastline litter'

Fast food and beverage packaging is the main source of plastic litter accumulating along many of the world’s coastlines, according to a study published in Nature on Thursday.

Researchers from the University of Cadiz classified more than 12 million items of litter collected worldwide according to product type, material and probable origin. They found that takeaway packaging such as plastic bags, wrappers, cans and cutlery accounted for up to 88 per cent of the waste polluting shorelines.

Around 8 million metric tons of plastic waste ended up in the ocean in 2010.