COVID-19-related litter pollution on Greek beaches and nearshore shallow water environments.
Mar Pollut Bull
; 185(Pt A): 114250, 2022 Dec.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2069461
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in certain types of litter, many of which are expected to end up in the marine environment. The present study aimed to monitor the pandemic-related litter pollution along the Greek coastal environment. Overall, 59 beach and 83 underwater clean-ups were conducted. Litter was categorized as PPE (face masks and gloves), COVID-19-related, single-use plastic (SUP) and takeaway items. PPE, dominated by face masks (86.21 %), accounted for 0.29 % of all litter. The average PPE density was 3.1 × 10-3 items m-2 and 2.59 items/ 100 m. COVID-19-related items represented 1.04 % of the total. Wet wipes showed higher densities (0.67 % of all litter) than in the pre-COVID era, while no increase in SUP and takeaway items was observed. Benthic PPE, dominated by gloves (83.95 %), represented 0.26 % of the total. The mean PPE density was 2.5 × 10-3 items m-2.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Bathing Beaches
/
COVID-19
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Mar Pollut Bull
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.marpolbul.2022.114250
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