I could easily be the first route to have its own blog! I am a four mile stretch of land from Greenwood Lock to Cooper Bridge in Mirfield, West Yorkshire.
The canals and rivers of England and Wales could be plastic-free in a year if every visitor picked up one piece of litter, the Canal and River Trust says (CRT). The Trust says that 14 million items of plastic ended up in waterways each year. CRT said it was "on a mission to eradicate plastic" and urged people to pick up any rubbish they find. It added that canals and rivers acted as "plastic highways", which was a "huge problem for wildlife".
CRT worked with Coventry University to carry out research for a new report. It took a "snapshot" of the amount of plastics and litter observed at representative locations along 2,000 miles of waterways and found plastics such as bags, bottles, disposable cups and food wrappers accounted for 59% of the waste.
The latest study found litter was being dropped over boundary walls from nearby buildings, off bridges and being blown or washed in from areas near the waterways. CRT said it made a great effort to minimise litter along waterways and emptied 900 public litter bins more than 46,000 times annually.
Image copyrightImage captioThe trust said it made a great effort to minimise litter along waterways and emptied 900 public litter bins more than 46,000 times annually.
Volunteers for the charity spend more than 100,000 hours clearing litter from towpaths and canals each year.
The canals and rivers of England and Wales could be plastic-free in a year if every visitor picked up one piece of litter, the Canal and River Trust says (CRT). The Trust says that 14 million items of plastic ended up in waterways each year. CRT said it was "on a mission to eradicate plastic" and urged people to pick up any rubbish they find. It added that canals and rivers acted as "plastic highways", which was a "huge problem for wildlife". 