COCA-COLA cans are the item most dropped as litter on beaches like Bournemouth across the UK, according to charity Surfers Against Sewage.

Research carried out by the charity with its flagship Million Mile Clean event in May was part of a national brand audit to identify the biggest 'polluters'.

In addition to the popular drinks company, the brands whose packaging was most dropped as litter were Walkers, McDonald's, Cadbury, Tesco, Lucozade, Costa Coffee, Mars Wrigley and Haribo – offering little change from the 2019 audit.

As part of the country’s biggest coordinated beach clean event over 50,000 volunteers took part in 600 cleans covering 350,000 miles in total all over the nation.

Some 3,900 volunteers walked and cleaned 11,139 of UK beaches, rivers, mountains and more, with 377 brands submitted into the data.

The top 12 brands were found named among 48 per cent of all packaging that was dumped, with the top six responsible for 65 per cent alone.

As a result Surfers Against Sewage are now calling on governments to introduce policies such as the deposit return scheme, which would mean people face an additional charge for purchasing something in single-use containers, in a bid to combat litter on beaches like Bournemouth and all across the country.