The distribution and composition of litter on the Aoshan Beach Qingdao, China

摘要

Human health and marine life are being compromised consequent to the accumulation of municipal solid waste on many beaches and the scientific community is seriously concerned about this situation. The present study is the pioneer to determine the abundance and the composition of beach litter along the Aoshan Beach in Qingdao, China. The quantitative survey of the Aoshan Beach was conducted for approximately 3 months (May to July 2019) to evaluate the number of different types of litter. The average litter composition and its weight for 3 months were estimated to be 4441 +/- 364.16 items/km with the corresponding weight was 260.52 +/- 28.53 kg/km, respectively. The findings demonstrated that plastic litter was the most abundant by count (32.21% of the total account) followed by ropes and cotton (24.92%) and wood (14.20%). The weight of ropes and cotton was the maximum (22.52% of the total account), followed by plastics (20.47%), wood, and glass 14.59 and 14.94%. Moreover, floating litter from the Yellow sea deposited along the coast by high and low tidal waves. It was concluded that mitigation measures must be adopted to decrease littering its source, waste management, recycling, developing efficient tolls, and pursuing a long-term public awareness.