Citizen scientists study beach litter along 12,000 km of the East Pacific coast: A baseline for the International Plastic Treaty.

Anthropogenic Marine Litter (AML) accumulating on beaches causes damage to coastal ecosystems and high costs to local communities. Volunteers sampled AML on 130 beaches along the central and southern East Pacific coasts, with AML densities ranging from 0.46 to 2.26 items m-2 in the different countries. AML composition was dominated by plastics and cigarette butts, the latter especially in Mexico and Chile. The accumulation of AML in the upper zones of the beaches and substantial proportions of cigarette butts, glass and metal pointed mainly to local sources. Statistical modelling of litter sources on continental beaches revealed that tourism, access and related infrastructure (e.g. parking lots) best explained AML densities, while plastic densities were also influenced by the distance from river mouths and national Gross Domestic Product. Large-scale monitoring can be a useful tool to evaluate the effectiveness of public policies that should primarily focus on land sources.

A seasonal comparison of litter impacts along the Viña del Mar - Concón coastal strip, Valparaiso region of Chile.

The Vina del Mar - Concón Coastal strip is well known for its urban beaches, which play an essential role in the national economy. With extreme urban development, these beaches have become more polluted by litter. This paper evaluates the abundance, spatio-temporal distribution, typology, and sources of beach litter in 14 sectors located inside this coastal strip. A total of 19,886 litter items were collected and grouped into 50 different categories (11 litter typologies). Overall average litter abundance was 0.21 items/m2 while during the fall and winter averages were 0.25 items/m2 and 0.17 items/m2. Values changed along the area and between seasons. Plastics, cigarette butts and paper-cardboard typologies dominated the samples with 42% (0.088 items/m2), 25.4% (0.053 items/m2) and 20.8% (0.043 items/m2).

Marine litter on a highly urbanized beach at Southeast Brazil: A contribution to the development of litter monitoring programs.

Seasonal distribution of Marine Litter (ML) on Santos beaches was assessed using a citizen science strategy. Plastics and cigarette butts (CB) were the dominant items in all sampling campaigns. Seasonal distribution did not result in significant differences for most items. Plastic and CB amounts were high in summer compared to autumn. For all sampled sites the presence of beach users influenced ML densities. However, results showed that some sites presented an additional influence of local hydrodynamic. Moderate amounts of hazardous items including metal, glass, CB, sanitary waste and plastic tubes used to pack and market illicit drugs represented between 20.8 and 31% of all ML over the seasons. The beaches of Santos were classified as dirty in autumn and spring and as extremely dirty in winter and summer. These findings can serve as a baseline to support mitigating actions by public authorities and start monitoring programs of ML not only in Santos but also in other urbanized beaches.

A snapshot of the litter problem along the Viña del Mar - Concón coastal strip, Valparaíso region, Chile.

Along the Viña del Mar - Concón coastal strip 11,894 litter items were collected, and grouped into 48 different categories (11 litter typologies). The average litter abundance was 0.25 items/m2, plastic items, and cigarette butts being the most common. Hazardous litter can be found along the entire study area, reaching 28.9% (3438 items of 11,894 total items collected distributed in 14 different categories), and an average of 0.071 items/m2. The application of environmental evaluation indices based on litter data, allows categorizing the study area as a clean-moderate coastal strip with some presence of hazardous litter items, and unsatisfactory environmental conditions. Studied sectors were statistically grouped into three specific types that ranged from sectors in optimal environmental conditions (Group A) to sectors in adverse environmental conditions (Group C). The typology and magnitudes of litter found along the study area suggest a combination of sources that mainly include direct activities on the beach (recreational and smoking-related) as well dumping. In the same way, sanitary waste, ocean/waterway items, and items related to surfing activities were observed. Strategies for litter management and environmental quality improvement need to be developed and enforced.

From Plant to Waste: The Long and Diverse Impact Chain Caused by Tobacco Smoking.

Smoking is a social phenomenon of global scope. The impacts start from the cultivation of the plant to the disposal of cigarette butts in the most diverse places. These aspects go beyond economic and public health issues, also affecting natural environments and their biota in a serious and indistinct way. Of the six trillion cigarettes consumed globally each year, four and a half trillion are disposed somewhere in the environment. Cigarette butts are predominantly plastic, non-biodegradable waste, prevalent in coastal environments in various parts of the world, and with high potential for generating impacts on a wide range of socioeconomic and environmental aspects. Among the 5000 compounds found in a cigarette, those with higher toxic potential are mainly concentrated in the filter and in tobacco remnants, which are items found in discarded cigarette butts. After surveying published studies on this topic, the present study addressed the interaction between the impacts related to tobacco smoking, highlighting the problem as an important and emerging issue that demands joint efforts, and actions especially focused on the reduction of environmental impacts, an aspect that has not yet been assessed.

Process development for cigarette butts recycling into cellulose pulp.

Cigarette butts, which are usually thrown on the ground or into ordinary bins, have been recognized as toxic residues since may contain cigarette contaminants and chemicals produced during combustion. Therefore, contaminants in cigarette butts can be leached by rain into surface water and thereby contaminate the environment. In Brazil, according to the National Policy on Solid Waste, all residues must be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. Although cigarette butts are not mentioned in the law, due to their characteristics, they may be classified as hazardous waste. At the University of Brasilia, a cellulose pulp production process from cigarette butts has been developed employing alkaline pulping. This process is presented as an alternative to environmentally friendly final disposal of this residue. During the process, a dark liquor is generated, which was found to contain lignin, carbonyls, metals, nicotine and specific tobacco nitrosamines. The dark liquor was treated by acidification to promote lignin precipitation, coagulation with chitosan and Al2(SO4)3 to remove metals and organic compounds and ozonized to oxidize resistant chemicals. The dark liquor presented a high chemical oxygen demand (COD; 29,986mg/L), which was partially removed by precipitation (20%), chitosan coagulation (66%) and ozonation (45.8%). As the remaining COD was still high, we proposed reusing the clarified effluent in alkaline pulping, which seemed to be the easiest and most efficient procedure with the lowest cost.

An experimental evaluation of the effectiveness of beach ashtrays in preventing marine contamination

In this study, hypotheses concerning the use of beach ashtrays were experimentally tested. Results indicated that the mean rate of abandonment of this equipment was low (1.5 percent). The mean amount of cigarette stubs (3.4 items/ashtray) was greater than mean amounts of other types of litter. People with different socioeconomic profiles had different perceptions regarding the issues associated with beach debris. These results indicated that beach ashtrays could be useful to prevent the contamination of these environments and that differences in socioeconomic characteristics of beachgoers could partially explain the differences in perceptions regarding the presence of waste on the beaches. This information could now be used by coastal managers to plan strategies to reduce the marine contamination.

A presença de resíduos sólidos no ambiente marinho é extensa. Praias são tipicamente contaminadas com esses materiais, que podem causar impactos ecológicos. Resíduos sólidos nas praias podem causar ferimentos nas pessoas e podem prejudicar a atividade turística. Neste estudo, hipóteses relativas ao uso de cinzeiros de praia foram testadas. Os resultados indicam que a taxa de abandono desse equipamento é pequena (1,5 por cento) e que a quantidade média de pontas de cigarro (3,4 itens/cinzeiro) é maior do que as quantidades médias de outros tipos de lixo. Também se observou que pessoas com diferentes perfis socioeconômicos apresentaram percepções diferentes relativas à presença de resíduos sólidos nas praias. Estes resultados sugerem que cinzeiros portáteis podem ser um equipamento importante na redução da contaminação das praias e que diferenças socioeconômicas dos freqüentadores das praias podem explicar parcialmente as diferentes percepções relativas à presença de resíduos no ambiente praial. Sugere-se que os gerentes costeiros usem esse tipo de informação para planejar estratégias de redução desse problema.