An inshore–offshore sorting system revealed from global classification of ocean litter
Morales-Caselles, Carmen; Viejo, Josué; Martí, Elisa; González-Fernández, Daniel; Pragnell-Raasch, Hannah; González-Gordillo, J. Ignacio; Montero, Enrique; Arroyo, Gonzalo M.; Hanke, Georg; Salvo, Vanessa S.; Basurko, Oihane C.; Mallos, Nicholas; Lebreton, Laurent; Echevarría, Fidel; van Emmerik, Tim; Duarte, Carlos M.; Gálvez, José A.; van Sebille, Erik; Galgani, François; García, Carlos M.; Ross, Peter S.; Bartual, Ana; Ioakeimidis, Christos; Markalain, Gorka; Isobe, Atsuhiko; Cózar, Andrés
(2021) Nature Sustainability, volume 4, issue 6, pp. 484 - 493
(Article)
Abstract
The surge of research on marine litter is generating important information on its inputs, distribution and impacts, but data on the nature and origin of the litter remain scattered. Here, we harmonize worldwide litter-type inventories across seven major aquatic environments and find that a set of plastic items from take-out
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food and beverages largely dominates global litter, followed by those resulting from fishing activities. Compositional differences between environments point to a trend for litter to be trapped in nearshore areas so that land-sourced plastic is released to the open ocean, predominantly as small plastic fragments. The world differences in the composition of the nearshore litter sink reflected socioeconomic drivers, with a reduced relative weight of single-use items in high-income countries. Overall, this study helps inform urgently needed actions to manage the production, use and fate of the most polluting human-made items on our planet, but the challenge remains substantial.
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Keywords: Taverne, Global and Planetary Change, Food Science, Geography, Planning and Development, Ecology, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Urban Studies, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
ISSN: 2398-9629
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
Note: Funding Information: This work has been financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, CTM2016-77106-R, AEI/FEDER/UE through the MIDaS project. The 2014-2020 ERDF Operational Programme and the Regional Government of Andalusia (ref. FEDER-UCA18-107828, PLAn project) supported C.M.-C., and the BBVA Foundation (PLASTREND project) supported D.G.-F.. The European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no_715386) supported E.v.S. This study is the outcome of the huge labour of many dedicated volunteers and researchers who have cleaned and recorded litter all around the world together with ECOPUERTOS, Marine Litter Watch, Ocean Conservancy, Project Aware, The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, The Ocean Cleanup and RIMMEL. The icons displayed in the figures were originally provided by Surfrider Foundation Europe. Thanks to A. L. Fanning for valuable comments on the document. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
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