Volunteers uncovered a haul of litter after painstakingly cleaning part of a river.

They got together at Chatham Maritime on the River Medway to mark the first Clean Marina Day yesterday.

After trawling both the marina and the land alongside it, their discoveries included 49 plastic bottles, building waste, polystyrene food packaging, straws, drinking cups and cigarette butts.

Around 20 volunteers also filled six trolleys of weed which was dredged from the marina.

The day was organised by the Living River Foundation who worked alongside the Chatham Maritime Trust and Medway Council.

The foundation will use the pick to collect data on the type of waste and where it was collected in order to look at strategies to reduce and intercept waste in the future.

Tanya Ferry, founder of the Living River Foundation, said: “We have an area of outstanding beauty and it’s up to us all to ensure it stays that way.

"That’s why this project is so important, to work together to find the solutions.

"When we’ve finished collecting our data - later this year - we will be able to strategically target our efforts to reduce the overall impact on the environment.

"Days like this not only help to improve the environment but also feed our data collection.

"The team pick up rubbish in the streets around the marina, before it gets into the waterways.

"Together with the trust they collected significant amounts of litter including a lot of cigarette butts.

"We are grateful to Medway Council for their support of our project.”

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