Volunteer trash collectors make unusual, 'retro' discovery washed up on beach: 'We can't escape [it]'

Volunteer trash collectors in Scotland's Orkney archipelago have been "overwhelmed" by the sheer amount of decades-old plastic litter inundating a local beach.

Bottles and debris have washed ashore on Howar Sands in Sanday, some of which appear to have originated from Canada and date back to the 1960s and 1970s. 

David Warner, a creative sustainability director at Sanday Community Craft Hub who organizes beach cleanups, has removed over 400 plastic bottles this year after finding just 42 last year. 

He also estimated that there were 300,000 polystyrene particles across a 70-square-meter stretch of the beach based on the amount he counted in one square meter.  

"It's the first time since cleaning the beaches I've been overwhelmed by it," he told BBC Radio Orkney. "The fact that there were so many polystyrene pieces that were so tiny meant that it was impossible to pick them up."

This increase in litter undermines the safety of wildlife at Howar Sands, a key site for nesting birds.

Furthermore, Warner expressed concern about the future, as garbage from the 1990s and 2000s had not yet been found.

According to the BBC, experts pointed to "fairly extraordinary weather," seasonal storms, strong southeast winds, and eroding coastal landfills as contributing factors behind the spike in "retro rubbish." 

"I'm really not surprised to see that, with a slightly different weather pattern, we're getting a lot of the old legacy material," said John Berry, who works for the Scottish Islands Federation and Greener Orkney. 

"But we will clean it up in spring. And next year, it will be back. So we will do the exercise again."

Warner added, "We can't escape plastic. I use plastic, it's inescapable. I just want people to be aware when they do buy plastic, think where it's going to end up."

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