Scientists report ‘heartening’ 30% reduction in plastic pollution on Australia’s coast

The amount of plastic pollution on Australia's coast has decreased by up to 30% on average as a result of work by local governments to reduce litter, according to research by Australia's science agency.

Scientists from CSIRO surveyed 183 coastal sites in six Australian states for plastic and other litter, such as glass, in 2018-19.

Thirty-two of the locations studied had also been surveyed at the same time of year in 2012-13 and those results were compared to the 2018-19 findings.

In what the CSIRO researcher, and one of the paper's co-authors, Denise Hardesty describes as a "heartening" sign of change, there was an average decline in pollution - most of which is from plastics - across the sites of 29%.

Some individual locations showed larger improvements, the greatest being a 73% decline in the amount of litter recorded.

"It's an amazing testimony of how much can change and how quickly you can see that change in the environment," Hardesty said.

"Almost 30% in six years is really heartening and can help people understand the impacts of our behaviours."