Cartoon images of human bodies with a pike head, duck head, kingfisher head and otter head all in different poses.

Our Plastics Challenge

Plastic and litter continue to threaten our canals. Every year, thousands of pieces end up in the water and on towpaths, damaging habitats, harming wildlife and spoiling places we rely on for wellbeing.

Each year, hundreds of people like you help us keep our canals litter free by taking part in Towpath Taskforce volunteer teams, doing litter picks or sharing our messages on social media.

We wanted to understand what motivates people to get involved so we can make sure we're providing opportunities that appeal. So, in October, we launched our 'What Canal Creature Are You?' quiz as part of our Plastics Challenge.

So far, more than 6,000 people have taken the quiz, and just over half have identified as ducks - sociable helpers who like doing good as part of a group.

The results have helped us understand what matters most to people who love our waterways, and mirrors other research we're doing into the problem of litter on our canals. We can use what we've discovered to help shape the likes of future volunteering opportunities and litter-reduction activities.

Take our canal creature quiz

Are you a duck, kingfisher, otter or pike? You can still discover your canal creature alter-ego by taking the quiz:

How we’re protecting wildlife and tackling canal litter

Our canals are home to amazing creatures - from swans filtering water, to fish balancing ecosystems and water voles maintaining healthy banks. But none of them can remove plastic pollution.

Here are just a few of the ways we're tackling the problem:

running regular volunteer clean-ups supported by Trust colleagues, partner groups and schools
working with our local council partners to tackle problem areas for fly tipping
running a fleet of workboats across the whole network, removing and disposing of endless discarded litter
piloting a variety of different projects - these range from schemes with partners tackling causes and solutions for littering, to trialling innovative technology like the waste shark, which literally eats the litter in our waterways so it can be removed and disposed