Trend Broken - More Plastic Corks Along the Swedish West Coast

The EU law to reduce the number of corks discarded in nature was introduced last year.

But according to a new report, the number of plastic corks polluting beaches along the West Coast of Sweden increased for the first time in years.

The new plastic caps attached to packaging were introduced in July 2024, but according to a report by the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation, the number of plastic caps on the beaches of the West Coast tripled between 2023 and 2024.

On average, 532 pieces of litter were found per 100 metres of beach along Skagerrak and Kattegat, which is 27 times more than the EU threshold for what is considered good environmental status. Plastic makes up 99% of the total litter on Skagerrak and Kattegat beaches, and the presence of plastic corks is increasing, from 46 corks per 100 metres of beach to 144.

– We are a bit surprised. We get a lot of rubbish from other countries on the west coast. The alternative is that people get annoyed with the caps that remain on the bottle and actually tear them off, says Eva Blidberg, an expert at Keep Sweden Tidy, to P4 Väst.

Things look better on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The sea is the only region in the EU that meets the threshold of 20 items of litter per 100 metres of beach.

^{Cover image: Helena Landstedt/TT Stock image.}