Litter pickers trying to stop plastic reaching sea
BBCVolunteers have been clearing rubbish from riverbanks and grassy spaces in an attempt to stop it ending up in waterways and the sea.
Litter pickers from Durham Wildlife Trust met at Riverside Park in Chester-le-Street last weekend as part of the trust's Source to Sea initiative.
The group collected about 30 bags of food packaging, cans and bottles from the park and the River Wear.
Volunteer support assistant Caitlin Elwin said: "You can usually find us on the beaches doing our litter picks, but actually what we tend to find is that 80% of the rubbish is from inland - this is really attempting to cut it off from the source."
Volunteers were also joined by the Chester-le-Street Sea Cadets, who used canoes to clear the river, as well as members of Durham Civic Pride and the Chester-le-Street Litter Picking Heroes group.
Volunteer Brian Alliston, from Newton Hall, said: "We see this kind of litter all over, and it ultimately gets washed down the river and ends up at the beach - so we're getting to the heart of it."
Elwin added: "Sometimes you turn up and it doesn't look too bad, but then you end up with a big pile of bags by the end and you realise how much is hidden in the environment."
She said litter could "really harm" wildlife if animals ate or became tangled in it - a problem volunteers see during beach clean-ups.
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: "Waste and plastics threaten our watercourses, litter beaches, impact water quality, and can poison wildlife - so it is wonderful to see volunteers giving their time to help protect the environment.
"Being responsible for waste is so important and we encourage the public to use registered waste carriers and dispose of household waste correctly to help prevent litter entering our waterways."