Planet Patrolling: A citizen science brand audit of anthropogenic litter in the context of national legislation and international policy

Abstract

Anthropogenic Litter (AL) is ubiquitous in distribution and diverse in type and impact. Citizen science AL clean-ups engage citizens with the environment and have the potential to generate data that can inform policy. Here we present a detailed citizen science survey of AL across freshwater, terrestrial, and coastal environments of the United Kingdom (UK), coordinated by the not-for-profit Planet Patrol throughout 2020. Key materials, industries, brands, and parent companies associated with AL are identified. Plastic dominated AL (63%), followed by metal (14%), and composite materials (12%). The majority of AL (56%) had been used as beverage containers and non-beverage packaging, and 38.8% of AL was branded. Of the branded AL, 26% was associated with The Coca-Cola Company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and PepsiCo. These three companies were associated with significantly more branded litter than any other. We place these data in the context of upcoming UK legislation and the Environmental Social Governance (ESG) statements of the companies associated with the majority of the recorded litter. Knowledge gaps and recommendations for AL surveying are made, and the focus of corporate and government actions are discussed.