New Study: Plastic Pollution Poses Major Threat to Island Country Beaches

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The study on marine litter covering the entire island of Cyprus conducted under the framework of the European Project MarLitCy highlights threats posed by plastic pollution to beaches across the island country in the eastern Meditterranean Sea South.

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The data collected from around 20 beaches indicate that a total of 42,499 marine litter items were collected. Out of this, plastics accounted for 86.3%. The top three plastic items were bottles and caps, plastic fragments smaller than 2.5 cm and cigarette butts. Also, a comparison of tourist and non-tourist sites show that tourist sites had higher average density of marine litter.

In northern part of Cyprus, plastic bags made up 12.4% of the total plastic litter, whereas in the Republic of Cyprus (RoC), it made up only 5.5%. In RoC, the main types of plastic litter were cigarette butts, which accounted for 42.5%. In contrast, cigarette butts constituted only 4.3% of the litter in the northern part of the country.

The above data indicates that beaches in the country are at high risk. The plastic pollution threatens not only marine life, but also poses risks to healthy human life. The country should implement actions at the earliest to reduce plastic use. An immediate shift to reusable or biodegradable alternative solutions will work wonders.