COVID-19-related litter pollution on Greek beaches and nearshore shallow water environments

Konstantina Kouvara; George Papatheodorou; Angeliki Kosmopoulou; Ioannis Giovos; Anastasia Charitou; Anastasios Filippides; Helen Kaberi; Loukia Kalaitzi; Filippos Kyrkitsos; Phoebe Koundouri; Constantinos Triantafyllou; Miltos Gletsos; Elias Fakiris; Maria Geraga

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114250

COVID-19-related litter pollution on Greek beaches and nearshore shallow water environments

Mar Pollut Bull. 2022 Dec;185(Pt A):114250. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114250. Epub 2022 Oct 14.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography, Department of Geology, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece.
² Laboratory of Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography, Department of Geology, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece. Electronic address: gpapathe@upatras.gr.
³ A.C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation, 10671 Athens, Greece.
⁴ iSea, Environmental Organization for the Preservation of the Aquatic Ecosystems, 54645 Thessaloniki, Greece.
⁵ OZON, Non-Governmental Organization, 20100 Corinth, Greece.
⁶ Institute of Oceanography, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), 19013 Anavyssos, Greece.
⁷ Thalassa Foundation, 1204 Geneva.
⁸ Ecological Recycling Society, Νon-profit Οrganization, 10432 Athens, Greece.
⁹ Department of International and European Economic Studies, Athens University of Economics and Business, 10434, Athens, Greece.
¹⁰ Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA), 17564 Athens, Greece.
¹¹ Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature (HSPN), 10557 Athens, Greece.

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: Beach; Benthic litter; COVID-19; Greece; Personal protective equipment (PPE); Plastic pollution.

MeSH terms

Bathing Beaches*
COVID-19*
Environmental Monitoring
Greece
Humans
Pandemics
Plastics
Waste Products / analysis
Water

Substances

Waste Products
Plastics
Water