Discarded items of personal protective equipment were found on almost a third of beaches cleaned up by volunteers this autumn.

The Marine Conservation Society’s annual beach clean found discarded masks and other items of PPE on 30 per cent of the areas litter picked. Beach cleans were carried out in 385 coastal areas in September, covering 43,958 metres of beach.

This year PPE was found for the first time. Masks and gloves were also pick up by volunteers in 69 per cent of inland litter picks.

Lizzie Prior, the Great British Beach Clean coordinator at the Marine Conservation Society, said: “The amount of PPE our volunteers found on beaches and inland this year is of concern. Considering mask-wearing was only made mandatory in shops in England in late July, little more than three months before the Great British Beach Clean, the sharp increase in PPE litter should be a warning for what could be a new form of litter polluting our beaches in the future.”