TOP TEN

Every year the 'Top Ten Rubbish Items' collected are recorded from the ten most commonly found items of rubbish. In 2006, these accounted for 51.7% of all items found, a 5.3% decrease from 2005.

Cigarette Butts have consistently been the most commonly found item across surveyed sites. In 2006 this was no exception accounting for 28% of the Top Ten items and 14% of all items found. This however was a slight decrease from 2005 when cigarette butts accounted for 17% of all items found.

Chips and confectionary bags accounted for 12% of the Top Ten and 6% of all rubbish items found. The third most common rubbish item was small paper pieces at 10% of the Top Ten, followed closely by glass pieces at 9%. Also representing 9% of the Top Ten, Glass alcoholic bottles accounted for 4% of all rubbish items.

Plastic bottle caps and lids ranked at number six with 8% of the Top Ten and 4% of the total items surveyed.

PET bottles, metal alcoholic cans and metal soft drink cans followed at numbers 7,8 & 9 in the Top Ten.

The tenth most common item for 2006 was plastic supermarket / retail bags, accounting for 5% of the Top Ten and 2% of all rubbish items found. This is the first time since 1999 where this item has appeared in the Top Ten.

Plastic straws dropped out of the Top Ten to position number 11 in 2006.

It is worth noting that seven out of the Top Ten items collected are recyclable.

Beverage Containers made up four out of the Top Ten items, and accounted for 14.4% of all rubbish collected and 27.9% of the Top Ten items.