WESTCOUNTRY beaches remain the dirtiest in Britain despite a 30 per cent fall in litter last year.

The Marine Conservation Society has been conducting Beachwatch – an annual, nationwide beach litter survey and clean up – since 1994, in which time rubbish has increased by 77 per cent.

But this year volunteers in the Westcountry found 32 per cent less rubbish, with 3,269 items/kilometre recorded in 2009 compared to 4,784 items/km in 2008.

Despite the improvement, the region's beaches remain the worst affected in the country. The UK average is 1,849 items/km.

The society remains particularly concerned at the volumes of plastic found on the shore which has more than doubled since 1994.

"Our seas and beaches are becoming overwhelmed with plastic litter, which not only looks horrible, but kills and injures many of our fantastic marine animals every year," said litter projects officer Rachel Bailey.

"More than 260 species of marine wildlife become entangled in litter or mistake it for food."

The 2009 results were generated by 4,655 volunteers who went to their favourite beach last September and not only removed the litter, but also recorded what they found.

The haul included 7,393 plastic bags, 16,243 plastic drinks bottles, 17,712 fishing nets and 70,546 small pieces of plastic. The litter filled 2,742 rubbish bags.

Among the rubbish found by MCS volunteers were a laboratory incubator, syringes, nappies, half a boomerang, a message in a bottle, a joke severed finger and a fake set of vampire's teeth, as well as a pile of spring onions.

The society has campaigned for the Government to act to stop the growing marine litter problem. Rachel Bailey said they could have reached a turning point.

"The solution is to stop litter getting into the sea in the first place," she added. "The Marine Conservation Society is delighted that government and political parties have announced their commitment to drawing up action plans to reduce marine litter."

As part of its commitment, the Government is to host talks later this year about tackling the problem of marine litter.

Environment minister Huw Irranca- Davies said: "Britain's coastlines, beaches and seas deserve better than to be treated as a dustbin. The mountains of waste which people leave behind are a risk to the health of both people and marine wildlife.

"MCS does fantastic work cleaning up our beaches but the best thing people can do to help is not leave their rubbish there in the first place," he said.