RT journal article
T1 Beach litter distribution along the western Mediterranean coast of Spain
A1 Asensio-Montesinos, Francisco
A1 Anfuso Melfi, Giorgio
A1 Williams, Allan Tomas
A2 Ciencias de la Tierra
K1 Plastic Cigarette butts
K1 Coastal management
K1 Alicante Beach debris
AB The amount and composition of beach litter was assessed, during spring 2018, at 56 sites along the coast of Alicante Province, on the western Mediterranean Sea. Selected sites covered “natural” (19), “village” (17) and “urban” (20) bathing areas and a total of 10,101 litter items was counted in an area of 201,686m2. Plasticrepresented the dominant material with 8345 items, i.e. 82.6% of all debris; paper and cardboard numbered 566 items (i.e. 5.6%); pottery and ceramics 348 (3.4%); metal 325 (3.2%); cloth 231 (2.3%); glass 147 (1.5%); rubber 64 (0.6%); wood 46 (0.5%) and other materials summed 29 items, i.e. 0.3% of all debris. Cigarette butts,45.6% of total items, were observed at different coastal sites: i.e. 1028 units at natural, 1148 at village and 2431 at urban sites. Despite the efforts of local administrations, which enforced cleaning operations at most sites, litteritems were essentially related to beachgoers followed by wastewater discharges and fishing activities.
PB Elsevier
SN 0025-326X
YR 2019
FD 2019
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/30835
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/30835
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 14-nov-2026