Charity describes UK's rivers and canals as 'plastic highways' in bid to get people to stop littering

A charity has described our rivers and canals as 'plastic highways'.

Canal & River Trust has described our littered rivers and canals as 'plastic highways' to the sea.

The charity is on a mission to 'eradicate plastics' from the vast network of waterways.

So they are calling on people in the South West to 'act local' and play their part in stopping the plastics and other rubbish entering the UK's waterways.

The charity is on a mission to 'eradicate plastics' from the vast network of rivers and canals.

New research suggests more than half a million items of plastic reach the oceans from canals and rivers every year, according to Canal & River Trust.

They say the waterways could be plastic free in a year if every visitor picked up and recycled one item on every trip to a river or canal.