Food and beverage plastics dominate global shorelines: A harmonized rank-based assessment of usage types to guide interventions

Abstract

Summary: Plastic pollution represents a pervasive global environmental challenge. However, the lack of globally harmonized monitoring hinders the development of targeted interventions. Here, we develop a rank-based approach combining over 5,300 shoreline surveys and Monte Carlo analysis to present a confidence-weighted global assessment of marine litter across seven continents, nine ocean systems, 13 regional seas, and 112 nations, representing 86% of the global population. The analysis shows that food and beverage plastics dominate shoreline debris globally, ranking among the top three most abundant usage types in 93% of nations, followed by plastic bags (39%) and cigarettes (38%). Specifically, plastic food packaging, caps/lids, and plastic bottles were among the top-ranked individual items in over half of all nations. By pinpointing the most prevalent items across national and regional scales, our framework provides critical policy-relevant evidence and associated levels of confidence, indicating the need for targeted upstream responses focused on short-lived plastics.