Plastic food and drink packaging ‘world’s most common coastal litter’ | Plastics

Plastic food wrappers, bottles, lids and caps are by far the most common waste found on the world’s shores, a study has found.

Researchers examined data from more than 5,300 coastal litter surveys to produce the first global analysis of its kind. They found the data in 355 existing studies on the subject.

“These are things we use every day,” said Richard Thompson, founder of the International Marine Litter Research Unit at the University of Plymouth. “Even in countries where waste management is quite advanced, waste constitutes the majority of elements present on the coastline. »

He said he wasn’t surprised to see a lot of single-use plastics in the data, but the fact that these items were present so consistently along the coasts of all seven continents surprised him.

To produce the analysis, published in the journal One Earth, researchers examined data from hundreds of studies and sources, looking for coastal litter surveys that were similar in methodology and provided data on the type of litter recorded. Their confidence in each country’s figures was based on the number of studies found for that country and other factors.

The information collected covered 94 countries and the team was able to extrapolate from this data to include estimates for an additional 18 countries. Food and drink-related plastics were found in coastal waste in 93% of these locations. No other form of litter was as widespread. Plastic bags appear in data from 39% of countries and cigarettes in data from 38% of countries.

There were, however, some regional variations. Plastic bags, for example, were very common in Asia.

The study also noted that a ban on plastic bags did not necessarily mean a country produced less such waste – poor policy enforcement or other countries exporting their waste could explain this.

The study did not include microplastics or unidentifiable plastics, but the authors noted that these tended to come from larger identifiable plastic waste.

Efforts to establish an international treaty to combat plastic pollution are in turmoil. The chairman of the treaty negotiations resigned in October after allegations of behind-the-scenes pressure from the U.N. environmental program, which oversees the negotiations. It also emerged this month that the program’s biggest donor, Norway, was reviewing its funding for the body.

The next round of discussions may not take place until the end of 2026 or 2027.

Thompson said policymakers could tackle plastic pollution by ensuring plastics are only used for essential purposes and that people can increasingly opt for refillable food and drink containers.

He added that the overall overview of the plastic pollution problem presented by the study could guide policymakers in their efforts to mitigate it.

Tamara Galloway, professor of ecotoxicology at the University of Exeter, who was not involved in the study, noted that current economic models tend to view many forms of plastic as disposable.

She said: “If we reframe this as ‘lost value plastic’ we might get along better with policy makers. We have this extremely valuable material and we are throwing it everywhere.”