Macrodebris and microplastics from beaches in Slovenia

Abstract

The amount of marine debris in the environment is increasing worldwide, which results in an array of negative effects to biota. This study provides the first account of macrodebris on the beach and microplastics in the sediment (shoreline and infralittoral) in relation to tourism activities in Slovenia. The study assessed the quality and quantity of macrodebris and the quality, size and quantity of microplastics at six beaches, contrasting those under the influences of tourism and those that were not. Beach cleanliness was estimated using the Clean Coast Index. Tourism did not seem to have an effect on macrodebris or microplastic quantity at beaches. Over 64% of macrodebris was plastic, and microplastics were ubiquitous, which calls for classification of plastics as hazardous materials. Standard measures for marine debris assessment are needed, especially in the form of an allencompassing debris index. Recommendations for future assessments are provided for the Adriatic region

Combining Litter Observations with a Regional Ocean Model to Identify Sources and Sinks of Floating Debris in a Semi-enclosed Basin: The Adriatic Sea

“…Plastic litter has been reported from northern Adriatic beaches (Laglbauer et al, 2014;Munari et al, 2016), coastal sediments (Vianello et al, 2013;Blašković et al, 2017), surface waters (Suaria and Aliani, 2014;Gajšt et al, 2016;Suaria et al, 2016) and in very large amounts on the seafloor (Galgani et al, 2000;Strafella et al, 2015;Pasquini et al, 2016), where litter densities are among the highest of the entire Mediterranean basin. Ingestion of plastic by Adriatic fauna has been reported for marine turtles (Lazar and Gračan, 2011;Poppi et al, 2012), sperm whales (Mazzariol et al, 2011) and dolphins (Pribanic et al, 1999) as well as from commercial fish (Avio et al, 2015) and crustacean species (Wieczorek et al, 1999).…”

Occurrence and recovery of small-sized plastic debris from a Brazilian beach: characterization, recycling, and mechanical analysis

“…This variance can be directly related to the degradation and content ratio of the rPP samples. Adding rPP to the mixture decreases the overall molecular weight, thus inducing a reduction in the elastic modulus; nevertheless, this effect can also be compensated by the increase of crystallinity, thus leading to the range of the results (Scott 1999;La Mantia 2002). A similar behavior is seen in the tensile stress at yield (Fig.…”

“…For the two other blend concentrations, 10%rPP and 15%rPP, the average elongation at yield decreased about 15% and 39%, respectively. Similarly to the elastic modulus behavior, the lower molecular weight also contributes to lower elongation performance of recycled polypropylene (La Mantia 2002). Conversely, the tensile strength at break (Fig.…”

“…The lack of information about the current environmental condition reflects on the little attention given to the presence of plastic debris nearby that region. This issue can be considered urgent on a holistic scale, as a result of (1) the direct impact of environmental contamination of plastics (Cole et al 2011;Andrady 2017); (2) the consequences to the local economy due to impairment of the tourism industry (Sheavly and Register 2007;MTur 2014;Jang et al 2014;Laglbauer et al 2014); and (3) the resulting social issues on one of the country's poorest regions (Abakerli 2001;Barbosa 2015;IBGE 2017;Palombini et al 2017). This research did not intend to map or classify the distribution of plastic debris on the entire LMNP coast, as well as to evaluate the economic feasibility of recycling micro-or mesoplastics, but to primarily disclose this issue as well as the multiple impacts caused by the lack of studies on that region.…”

“…Despite direct harm to several species, such as seabirds, fishes, turtles and whales (Tanaka et al 2013;Crawford and Quinn 2017a;Andrady 2017), small plastic debris also impacts on several stakeholders, such as the shipping, fishing and tourism industry (Sheavly and Register 2007;Jang et al 2014;Laglbauer et al 2014;Avio et al 2017). For instance, places of key importance in ecosystems' preservation, such as national parks, are created as areas of environmental protection besides having a significant contribution to the local economy (Begon et al 2006;Medeiros and Young 2011).…”