Where does Arctic beach debris come from? Analyzing debris composition and provenance on Svalbard aided by citizen scientists

Abstract

Plastic debris is ubiquitous in all ecosystems and has even reached locations that humans will hardly reach such as the deep ocean floor and the atmosphere. Research has highlighted that plastic debris is now pervasive even in remote Arctic regions. While modeling projections indicated local sources and long-distance transport as causes, empirical data about its origin and sources are scarce. Data collected by citizen scientists can increase the scale of observations, especially in such remote regions. Here, we report abundance and composition data of marine debris collected by citizen scientists on 14 remote Arctic beaches on the Spitsbergen archipelago. In addition, citizen scientists collected three large, industrial sized canvas bags (hereafter: big packs), filled with beached debris, of which composition, sources and origin were determined. A total debris mass of 1,620 kg was collected on about 38,000 m2 (total mean = 41.83 g m-2, SEM = ± 31.62). In terms of abundance, 23,000 pieces of debris were collected on 25,500 m2 (total mean = 0.37 items of debris m-2, SEM = ± 0.17). Although most items were plastic in both abundance and mass, fisheries waste, such as nets, rope, and large containers, dominated in mass (87%), and general plastics, such as packaging and plastic articles, dominated in abundance (80%). Fisheries-related debris points to local sea-based sources from vessels operating in the Arctic and nearby. General plastics could point to both land- and ship based sources, as household items are also used on ships and debris can be transported to the north via the oceans current. Overall, 1% of the items (206 out of 14,707 pieces) collected in two big packs (2017 and 2021), bore imprints or labels allowing an analysis of their origin. If the categories ‘global’ and ‘English language’ were excluded, most of identifiable items originated from Arctic states (65%), especially from Russia (32%) and Norway (16%). But almost a third of the items (30%) was of European provenance, especially from Germany (8%). Five percent originated from more distant sources (e.g. USA, China, Korea, Brazil). Global measures such as an efficient and legally binding plastic treaty with improved upstream measures and waste management are urgently needed, to lower the amount of plastic entering our environments and in turn lifting the pressure on the Arctic region and its sensitive biota.

Wasting the Restorative Potential: Influences of Plastic and Biowaste on Psychological Restoration After Real, Virtual, and Imagined Walks

“…Although having data from only one high-income country in the global north is very limited, it is nevertheless a relevant country to consider. Germany is among the highconsumption countries (PlasticsEurope, 2020) and a relatively high amount of German plastic waste is found even in the Arctic (Meyer et al, 2023). Therefore, German viewpoints are relevant for investigating links of litter and restoration, and especially important for studying predictors for reduced consumption and plastic-related policy support.…”

“…Plastic waste and its particles areamong othersmajor sources for pollution. Meanwhile plastic is found worldwide (e.g., Cunningham et al, 2020;Meyer et al, 2023;Shahul Hamid et al, 2018). 6 Plastic and pollution therewith are perceived as environmentally harming and negative (see Heidbreder et al, 2019, for a review;.…”

Citizen science in studying the microplastic pollution of the Russian Arctic

“…В Арктике «гражданская наука» в последнее время также стала основой для относительно регулярного мониторинга морского мусора на побережьях. Участники туристических круизов активно помогают собирать и классифицировать мусор на побережьях при высадках на наиболее отдаленные и необитаемые острова арктических архипелагов, тем самым пополняя базу данных по характеристикам выброшенного на берег макромусора [14]…”

Will the Global Plastics Treaty break the plastic wave? The beginning of a long discussion road

“…The literature is of specific concern regarding the effects of plastic pollution in the Arctic (Cowan et al 2023a;Meyer et al 2023;Prior & Seck 2023).…”