Volunteers picked up more rubbish on the beaches of Zeeland than anywhere else in the country, the Stichting De Noordzee foundation said on Friday.

In total, helpers picked up an average of 416 pieces of waste per 100 metres of beach in Zeeland, compared with 309 pieces over the coast as a whole, local broadcaster Omroep Zeeland reported.

Some 300 volunteers were involved in collecting waste over the past two weeks. They work according to a strict method which has been developed to ensure a uniform approach wherever rubbish is collected.

Plastic, bits of wood and material to protect fishing nets accounted for most of the rubbish and in total, the volunteers found 14,000 items of waste at 91 different locations. A second survey will take place in October.