Clean-up work begins on London's 'wet wipe island'

Work has started on the mass excavation of London’s 'wet wipe island' in a first-of-its-kind river clean-up project to further improve the quality of the River Thames.Led and co-ordinated by the Port of London Authority in collaboration with Thames Water, the operation is removing an estimated 180 tonnes of congealed wet wipes that has formed the island along a 250-metre stretch of the tidal Thames near Hammersmith Bridge. It is expected to take up to a month to complete.The island, which is about the size of two tennis courts, has changed the course of the river and potentially harmed the aquatic wildlife and ecology in the area.Interviews:- John Sullivan, Thames Water’s head of tideway integration group- Grace Rawnsley, Port of London Authority’s director of sustainability- Liz Gyekye, Thames 21 communications manager.