Floating macrolitter leaked from Europe into the ocean
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Daniel González-Fernández
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 795340
- ORCID : 0000-0002-6958-7845
Carmen Morales-Caselles
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 826595
- ORCID : 0000-0002-3429-2027
Filipa Bessa
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 826596
- ORCID : 0000-0002-6602-3710
Antoine Bruge
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 793288
- ORCID : 0000-0002-0548-234X
María Cabrera
- Function : Author
Javier Castro-Jiménez
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 19835
- IdHAL : javier-castro-jimenez
- ORCID : 0000-0001-8456-3932
Mel Constant
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 745910
- IdHAL : mel-constant
- ORCID : 0000-0003-4808-4373
- IdRef : 236041185
Roberto Crosti
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 826597
- ORCID : 0000-0001-5149-2525
Joana Pereira de Brito
- Function : Author
Maria Pogojeva
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 797338
- ORCID : 0000-0002-4763-2422
Júlia Rigueira
- Function : Author
Elisa Rojo-Nieto
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 826598
- ORCID : 0000-0001-5765-7183
Oksana Savenko
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 797339
- ORCID : 0000-0001-6719-4602
Grzegorz Siedlewicz
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 797337
- ORCID : 0000-0002-3948-1097
Giuseppe Suaria
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 801039
- ORCID : 0000-0002-4290-349X
Abstract
Riverine systems act as converging pathways for discarded litter within drainage basins, becoming key elements in gauging the transfer of mismanaged waste into the ocean. However, riverine litter data are scarce and biased towards microplastics, generally lacking information about larger items. Based on the first ever database of riverine floating macrolitter across Europe, we have estimated that between 307 and 925 million litter items are released annually from Europe into the ocean. The plastic fraction represented 82% of the observed litter, mainly fragments and single-use items (that is, bottles, packaging and bags). Our modelled estimates show that a major portion of the total litter loading is routed through small-sized drainage basins (<100 km2), indicating the relevance of small rivers, streams and coastal run-off. Moreover, the major contribution of high-income countries to the macrolitter inputs suggests that reducing ocean pollution cannot be achieved only by improving waste management, but also requires changing consumption habits and behaviour to curb waste generation at source. The inability of countries with well-developed recovery systems to control the leakage of waste into the environment further supports the need to regulate the production and use of plastic on a global scale.