Numerous items, including hundreds of thousands of onions, dust masks, single-use plastic gloves, and cans of dried milk, have washed ashore on Brighton Beach. Resident Coral Evans reported the extensive debris, prompting the Leave No Trace Brighton community group to organize a cleanup.
Brighton and Hove city council collected 1.9 tonnes of waste from local beaches in one day, which is nearly four times the typical amount for this period. Large portions of shipping containers and polystyrene insulation were also observed washing ashore.
East Sussex county council confirmed awareness of various debris and shipping container remains along the coastline and is coordinating removal efforts with contractors.
Beaches near Eastbourne experienced thousands of bags of chips washing up, and similar problems have affected West Sussex over the past month, exacerbated by Storm Goretti.
Donna Trethewey of Selsey Beach Litter Ninjas noted 24 containers went overboard in her area in three separate incidents over six weeks. One event on December 6 involved 16 containers from the refrigerated cargo ship Baltic Klipper in the Solent. Contents, including bananas, avocados, and their plastic packaging, have been washing ashore as containers break down at sea.
Cleanup groups have been collecting the debris, with West Sussex county council arranging for its processing and recycling.
A report by the World Shipping Council (WSC) last year indicated 576 shipping containers were lost at sea annually. Dr. Simon Boxall, an oceanography academic at the University of Southampton, estimates that 2,200 containers fall off ships into the water each year. He highlighted Southampton's status as a major container port and the Channel's busy shipping lanes as contributing factors to containers washing ashore on the south coast.
The spillage of substances like herbicides, pesticides, and acids from containers poses threats to wildlife, and submerged containers present navigation hazards. The Environment Agency is monitoring the potential impact on wildlife and water.
The public has been advised not to touch, move, or take any washed-up waste or produce, and to keep children and animals away.
As of January 1, new legislation introduced by the International Maritime Organization and the WSC mandates that shipping companies report any containers lost at sea, making non-reporting a criminal offense. This aims to improve tracking of such incidents.
Despite the challenges, the situation has mobilized community efforts, with groups like Leave No Trace Brighton organizing large-scale volunteer cleanups that have cleared extensive stretches of beach.