Spilled Lidl cargo still washing up across Channel Island shorelines

Hauls of plastic spilled from a cargo ship are continuing to wash up on Channel Island shores.

Litter pickers across the Bailiwicks are finding thousands of plastic items on the beaches.

Toothbrushes, bottles of make up remover and air fresheners are among the items which islanders have been finding in recent weeks.

They were originally bound for Lidl supermarkets in Spain, before falling overboard.

Two weeks ago, hundreds of Avant water bottles were found, but islanders collected the majority from the coastlines.

People in Guernsey are hoping that Government officials investigate the pollution, so that island waters are protected.

Richard Lord, an environmental campaigner, said: "I hope the States of Guernsey will pursue the cargo company, determine where it came from and get some compensation from the insurance company.

"It will cost us to deal with the waste management and send it to be recycled in Scandinavia. Because most of this won't go in the blue bag, it's hard plastic that cannot be easily recycled."

Due to strong winds still hitting the islands, it means the cargo is continuing to arrive on island shores, something which campaigners say is evidence of a larger global issue: a reliance on plastic.

Helen Quin, from Clean Earth Trust, said: "We could be forever cleaning up plastic from our beaches, and we could be at this rate. Especially with all the Covid testing kit that we will be finding on the beaches. We're due to be cleaning that up for decades, potentially.

"The amount of plastic we use is due to double by 2050, so more and more is going to be washed up. It's one thing to rely on our community to clear up.

"We're lucky that we're an island that has amazing waste infrastructure but its mostly the places that are producing this plastic that are mostly over run with it."

Lidl have said that they are investigating how their products have ended up on Channel Island beaches.