The Thames, the second largest river in the United Kingdom, is facing an environmental disaster, caused by huge amounts of wet wipes that reached it through the sewers.
The authorities called on citizens to stop using non-water-degradable wipes due to the inclusion of plastic in their manufacture.
“There’s an island of wipes the size of two tennis courts, it’s near Hammersmith Bridge, and it’s a meter or more deep,” Labor MP Flor Anderson said, proposing a ban on the manufacture and sale of wet wipes containing plastic.
What raises the risk is that the wipes can degrade into microplastics and harm aquatic life and the Thames ecosystem.
The Thames charity said that in just under five years, one pile had grown to a height of 1.4 metres, covering the area of two tennis courts.
Environment Minister Rebecca Bowe urged people not to throw tissues down the drain when using them.
Bao said the government would make proposals that would reduce the scale of the disaster.