
An inshore–offshore sorting system revealed from global classification of ocean litter
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ABSTRACT The surge of research on marine litter is generating important information on its inputs, distribution and impacts, but data on the nature and origin of the litter remain scattered.
Here, we harmonize worldwide litter-type inventories across seven major aquatic environments and find that a set of plastic items from take-out food and beverages largely dominates global
litter, followed by those resulting from fishing activities. Compositional differences between environments point to a trend for litter to be trapped in nearshore areas so that land-sourced
plastic is released to the open ocean, predominantly as small plastic fragments. The world differences in the composition of the nearshore litter sink reflected socioeconomic drivers, with a
reduced relative weight of single-use items in high-income countries. Overall, this study helps inform urgently needed actions to manage the production, use and fate of the most polluting
human-made items on our planet, but the challenge remains substantial. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
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subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS FLOATING MACROLITTER LEAKED FROM EUROPE INTO THE OCEAN Article 10 June 2021 INDUSTRIALISED
FISHING NATIONS LARGELY CONTRIBUTE TO FLOATING PLASTIC POLLUTION IN THE NORTH PACIFIC SUBTROPICAL GYRE Article Open access 01 September 2022 GEOSPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND ANTHROPOGENIC LITTER
IMPACT ON COASTAL MANGROVE ECOSYSTEMS FROM THE SAUDI ARABIA COAST OF THE GULF Article Open access 07 May 2025 DATA AVAILABILITY Supplementary text and additional figures and tables can be
found in the supplementary material. The data that support the findings of this study, as well as a tool (Excel macro) to automatically convert any litter category list into the joint master
list (JML) used here, are available at https://marinelitterlab.eu/ and from the corresponding authors upon request. REFERENCES * Galgani, F., Hanke, G. & Maes, T. in _Marine
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science monitoring approach. _Mar. Pollut. Bull._ 150, 110763 (2020). Article CAS Google Scholar Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work has been financed by the Spanish Ministry
of Science, Innovation and Universities, CTM2016-77106-R, AEI/FEDER/UE through the MIDaS project. The 2014-2020 ERDF Operational Programme and the Regional Government of Andalusia (ref.
FEDER-UCA18-107828, PLAn project) supported C.M.-C., and the BBVA Foundation (PLASTREND project) supported D.G.-F.. The European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon
2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no_715386) supported E.v.S. This study is the outcome of the huge labour of many dedicated volunteers and researchers who have cleaned
and recorded litter all around the world together with ECOPUERTOS, Marine Litter Watch, Ocean Conservancy, Project Aware, The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, The Ocean Cleanup and RIMMEL.
The icons displayed in the figures were originally provided by Surfrider Foundation Europe. Thanks to A. L. Fanning for valuable comments on the document. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND
AFFILIATIONS * Departamento de Biología, University of Cadiz and European University of the Seas (SEA-EU), Instituto Universitario de Investigación Marina (INMAR), Puerto Real, Spain Carmen
Morales-Caselles, Josué Viejo, Elisa Martí, Daniel González-Fernández, J. Ignacio González-Gordillo, Gonzalo M. Arroyo, Fidel Echevarría, José A. Gálvez, Carlos M. García, Ana Bartual, Gorka
Markalain & Andrés Cózar * Project Aware, Dive Against Debris, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Hannah Pragnell-Raasch * Asociación Proyecto Ecopuertos, Cádiz, Spain Enrique Montero *
European Commission Joint Research Centre, Directorate D – Sustainable Resources, European Commission, Ispra, Italy Georg Hanke * Posidonia Green Project, Barcelona, Spain Vanessa S. Salvo *
AZTI Marine Research, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Pasaia, Spain Oihane C. Basurko * Ocean Conservancy, Portland, OR, USA Nicholas Mallos * The Ocean Cleanup, Rotterdam,
Netherlands Laurent Lebreton * Hydrology and Quantitative Water Management Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands Tim van Emmerik * Red Sea Research Centre (RSRC) and
Computational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia Carlos M. Duarte * Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research
Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands Erik van Sebille * IFREMER (French Institute for Research and Exploitation of the Sea), Immeuble Agostini, Z.I. Furiani, Bastia, France
François Galgani * Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Peter S. Ross * UNEP/ Mediterranean Action Plan,
Barcelona Convention Secretariat, Athens, Greece Christos Ioakeimidis * Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Japan Atsuhiko Isobe Authors * Carmen
Morales-Caselles View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Josué Viejo View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed
Google Scholar * Elisa Martí View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Daniel González-Fernández View author publications You can also search for
this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Hannah Pragnell-Raasch View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * J. Ignacio González-Gordillo View author
publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Enrique Montero View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Gonzalo M.
Arroyo View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Georg Hanke View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
* Vanessa S. Salvo View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Oihane C. Basurko View author publications You can also search for this author
inPubMed Google Scholar * Nicholas Mallos View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Laurent Lebreton View author publications You can also search
for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Fidel Echevarría View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Tim van Emmerik View author publications
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Carlos M. Duarte View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * José A. Gálvez View
author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Erik van Sebille View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *
François Galgani View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Carlos M. García View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed
Google Scholar * Peter S. Ross View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Ana Bartual View author publications You can also search for this
author inPubMed Google Scholar * Christos Ioakeimidis View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Gorka Markalain View author publications You can
also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Atsuhiko Isobe View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Andrés Cózar View author
publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS C.M.-C. and A.C. conceived and drafted the present study; they contributed equally to the work. A.C.,
D.G.-F., H.P.-R., J.I.G.-G., E. Montero, G.M.A., G.H., O.C.B., N.M., L.L., T.v.E. and C.I. participated in the design and coordination of the field surveys. C.M.-C., J.V., A.C., E. Martí and
D.G.-F. analysed the data. All authors read and commented on the manuscript. CORRESPONDING AUTHORS Correspondence to Carmen Morales-Caselles or Andrés Cózar. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING
INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PEER REVIEW INFORMATION _Nature Sustainability_ thanks Lauren Roman and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for
their contribution to the peer review of this work. PUBLISHER’S NOTE Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary Methods, Table 1, Figs. 1–8 and references. REPORTING SUMMARY SUPPLEMENTARY TABLES Supplementary Tables 2–4. SUPPLEMENTARY
DATA Conversion tool. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Morales-Caselles, C., Viejo, J., Martí, E. _et al._ An inshore–offshore sorting
system revealed from global classification of ocean litter. _Nat Sustain_ 4, 484–493 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00720-8 Download citation * Received: 28 May 2020 * Accepted:
15 April 2021 * Published: 10 June 2021 * Issue Date: June 2021 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00720-8 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to
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