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Peer-reviewedCC BYOne Earth

Food and beverage plastics dominate global shorelines: A harmonized rank-based assessment of usage types to guide interventions

  • Max Richard Kelly1
  • Muhammad Reza Cordova2
  • Susan Jobling3
  • Paul J. Somerfield4
  • Richard Charles Thompson1
4 affiliations
  1. 1School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
  2. 2Research Center for Oceanography, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Jakarta 14430, Indonesia
  3. 3The Partnership for Plastics in Indonesian Societies (PISCES), Centre for Pollution Research and Policy, Brunel University of London, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB83PH, UK
  4. 4Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, UK
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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.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{kelly2026food,
  title = {{Food and beverage plastics dominate global shorelines: A harmonized rank-based assessment of usage types to guide interventions}},
  author = {Max Richard Kelly and Muhammad Reza Cordova and Susan Jobling and Paul J. Somerfield and Richard Charles Thompson},
  journal = {One Earth},
  year = {2026},
  month = may,
  doi = {10.1016/j.oneear.2026.101712},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2026.101712},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Food and beverage plastics dominate global shorelines: A harmonized rank-based assessment of usage types to guide interventions
AU  - Max Richard Kelly
AU  - Muhammad Reza Cordova
AU  - Susan Jobling
AU  - Paul J. Somerfield
AU  - Richard Charles Thompson
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/20
JO  - One Earth
DO  - 10.1016/j.oneear.2026.101712
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2026.101712
AB  - 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.
SN  - 2590-3322
SN  - 2590-3330
ER  -