More than 100 volunteers - including staff from Tesco, Waitrose and Asda - got stuck in to remove countless plastic bags and other rubbish littering East London's foreshore.

The workers cleaned the banks of the river on the Isle of Dogs yesterday morning (March 2).

The event was part of charity Thames21's volunteer clean-up to mark the lowest daytime tide in five years.

Asda's corporate affairs spokeswoman, Karen Todd, said: "We are working hard to reduce the number of carrier bags used by focussing on changes in customer and colleague behaviour and in May last year we exceeded government reductions targets.

"We have launched lots of initiatives to help customers avoid having to use single trip bags, by having bag for life giveaways, putting checkout operators in control of the number of bags they hand out and by reminding customers through car park signage each time they visit, to remember to bring their bags with them."

Luke Walsh