Project to remove 'wet wipe island' from Thames complete

CONGEALED rubbish equivalent to around five million wet wipes has been cleared from the banks of the River Thames as a major project to remove the so-called “wet wipe island” reaches completion.

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Last month, diggers began dredging up muddy waste that had settled along a 250-metre stretch of the foreshore near Hammersmith Bridge in west London.

The two eight-tonne excavators used a “rake and shake” method to scoop out wet wipes from the natural sediment and riverbed, but also dug up towels, scarves, trousers, a car's engine timing belt and a set of false teeth.

The island, which was about the size of two tennis courts and up to one metre deep in places, is thought to have changed the course of the river and potentially harmed nearby aquatic wildlife and ecology.

Environment group Thames21 and its volunteers campaigned for its removal for years while monitoring the buildup of wet wipes, and researching how those containing plastic can degrade the environment.