{
  "abstract": "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.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK",
    "Research Center for Oceanography, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Jakarta 14430, Indonesia",
    "The Partnership for Plastics in Indonesian Societies (PISCES), Centre for Pollution Research and Policy, Brunel University of London, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB83PH, UK",
    "Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, UK"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Max Richard Kelly",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7136-0527"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Muhammad Reza Cordova",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4756-9646"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Susan Jobling",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9322-9597"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Paul J. Somerfield",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7581-5621"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Richard Charles Thompson",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2262-6621"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/f7sddezccwkwr.bib",
  "cited_by": 5,
  "doi": "10.1016/j.oneear.2026.101712",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "f7sddezccwkwr",
  "issns": [
    "2590-3322",
    "2590-3330"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2026.101712",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2310|Microplastics and Plastic Pollution"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7161806440",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-05-20",
  "publisher": "Elsevier BV",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/f7sddezccwkwr.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-08T13:20:55Z",
      "native_id": "W7161806440",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2026.101712"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "openalex:2310|Microplastics and Plastic Pollution",
      "subfield": "environmental-science"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Food and beverage plastics dominate global shorelines: A harmonized rank-based assessment of usage types to guide interventions",
  "title_text": "Food and beverage plastics dominate global shorelines: A harmonized rank-based assessment of usage types to guide interventions",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T13:20:55Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/f7sddezccwkwr",
  "venue": "One Earth",
  "versions": []
}