Virgin plastic pellets and plastic fragments are reported as ubiquitous beach contaminants in the peer-reviewed literature. A surface density of 0.3 virgin plastic pellets and plastic fragments per square centimeter of the strandline area was registered on an urban beach of the northeast of Brazil. This beach is presently not affected by petrochemical facilities or pellet processing plants. The main source of fragments (96.7%) was attributed to the breaking down of larger plastic items deposited on the beach. In the case of virgin plastic pellets (3.3%), the main sources were the marine environment and possibly nearby port facilities. This category of plastic pollutant offers particular threats to the marine environment and to beach users.

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Beaches are subject to solid waste contamination at the strandline. Litter depositional dynamics is influenced by specific beach morphology and sources of solid wastes. The amount of items on the strandline of Boa Viagem beach (Recife, Brazil) was evaluated during dry and rainy seasons of 2005 to characterize their sources and depositional patterns. The strandline was surveyed once a month to count and classify all visible solid waste items within a belt-transect. Plastics were used for detailed analysis of the wastes accumulated. There were quantitative, but not qualitative, differences in litter accumulation during the year and parts of the beach. The main source of debris was land-based. In general, the beach was low-polluted in the dry season and medium-polluted during the rainy season. The method is a low-cost and highly efficient characterization of solid wastes contamination of urban beaches.

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