Huge increase in single use PPE being left on Yorkshire Coast beaches

People and visitors on the Yorkshire Coast are being urged to buy reusable PPE to help wildlife.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust say single use items is harming nature and the environment.

Ana Cowie, who is from the group, said:

"Unfortunately on our regular beach cleans along the Yorkshire Coast, we have seen a huge increase in the amount of PPE-like single use face masks that are being left around; and that is having a detrimental impact on our marine wildlife.

"We often see gulls that are eating plastics and awful materials and animals often get entangled in them. So we really do plead for people to cut down on single use items wherever it's safe to do so.

"We've had floods of people flock to the coast, staying within the UK when they would have otherwise gone abroad; and more and more, unfortunately, we're seeing litter inappropriately discarded and we are seeing the impacts this is having on animals and on our environment.

"A study was actually carried out a few years ago where all of the fulmars found dead along the Yorkshire coastline were actually analysed, and we found that 98% of them had considerable amounts of plastics in their stomach; that was a few years ago so it's likely to be more severe now.

"More often than not, we are getting a lot of this waste eventually getting into our oceans. It does move around, wind and all sorts of factors, mean that if you dispose of it in one place, it will not stay there.

"We completely appreciate the need for single use PPE, masks and gloves for medical purposes. However, if people can use reusable PPE, changes like that can really make a huge impact on our environment."