The European Environment Agency (EEA) has reported that new data shows that cigarette butts are the most commonly found individual item on European beaches, Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) reported.

The data is based on roughly 700,000 items which were collected by volunteers at 1, 627 beaches across the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the North-East Atlantic Ocean, CIWM reported. The data was collected between 2014 and 2017.
Disposable plastics were found to be the biggest contributor to ocean litter across all European beach areas.
Other forms of litter found on the beaches included plastic pieces, plastic bottles, glass, strings and cords, according to CIWM.