Diggers pull ‘disgusting’ island of wet wipes from Thames

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Watch Carolyn Sim's report on the big clean-up in Hammersmith.

Footage shows diggers starting to remove a “disgusting” bank of wet wipes that has built up along the River Thames in west London as part of a first-of-its-kind clean-up project.

Plastic waste has gathered over recent years into a thick sludge along a 250-metre stretch of the river’s southern foreshore by Hammersmith Bridge.

Dubbed “wet wipe island”, campaigners from the charity Thames 21 have been calling for a major clean-up as well as a wider crackdown on plastic pollution.

Its says its volunteers have collected more than 140,000 wet wipes from the area over eight years.

Work to remove the estimated 180 tonnes of congealed wipes, led by the Port of London Authority (PLA) in collaboration with Tham