In the guide below, we outline:
– The most common types of waste found on beaches
– The most common types of waste found in the ocean
– Other relevant information about marine debris and marine waste
This guide compliments our separate guides about the most common waste found in landfills, and the most littered items across society.
Summary – Most Common Waste Found In The Ocean & On Beaches
Most Common Waste Found In The Ocean
Four of the major categories of waste found in the ocean are fishing gear (like nets, lines, and other fishing equipment), industrial material, washed off plastics from products like cosmetics or synthetic fibres in textiles that are washed down drainage systems, and solid garbage/litter that comes from land
Plastic items and cigarettes are two of the most common pieces of waste found floating in the ocean
Most of the total plastic waste in the ocean comes from land based sources, although, in some parts of the ocean with heavier fishing, a greater % can come from marine sources
Plastic can be blown into the ocean by the wind, carried into the ocean by rivers and outlets, and can wash into the ocean from beaches and tides, amongst other ways that plastic gets into the ocean
Not all waste that gets into the ocean has the same impact to do harm – some waste can be more toxic and hazardous. Less common waste that gets dumped in the ocean, or leaches in the ocean, but can be toxic and hazardous in various ways can be fertlizers, pesticides, dredged material, industrial waste, sewage sludge, and radioactive waste
Dredging contributes about 80% of all waste dumped into the ocean
Most Common Waste Found On Beaches
Cigarette butts top several lists as the most commonly found waste
Plastic as is the most commonly found waste material, with plastic beverage bottles and plastic caps/lids some of the most commonly found plastic waste items. A range of other plastic items are found on beaches too though
Much of the plastic found tends to be single use disposable plastic
Plastic, foam and glass are some of the most common tiny trash materials found on coastal cleanups – tiny trash is categorised separately to larger pieces of waste
Most Common Marine Debris In General
According to several reports, plastic might make up around 75% of all marine debris (debris found both beaches and in oceans)
Littered Waste vs Mismanaged Waste
Littered waste is waste that is littered by consumers or producers
Mismanaged waste includes waste that is littered, but also waste that isn’t managed properly by waste management systems, such as waste that that leaks from bins, dumping sites and landfill sites (amongst other places)
Both littered and mismanaged waste can end up in the ocean
Firstly, How Much Waste Is In The Ocean?
Some estimates indicate there are trillions of pieces of plastic debris in the ocean, with hundreds of thousands of tons floating on the surface, and billions of microfibers in the deep sea.
However, these estimates are only estimates. It can be hard to truly quantify the amount of plastic in the ocean, and these estimates don’t take into consideration plastic elsewhere in the ocean, or that has washed up along shorelines or coasts.
Additionally, this estimate only takes into consideration plastic.
As we outline in the guide below, other types of waste leak into the ocean, or are directly dumped or discharged into the ocean too.
Most Common Types Of Waste Found In Oceans
The type of waste found in the ocean can differ depending on the part of the ocean
Plastic is a common material found in the ocean, but fishing gear, industrial material and waste, washed off waste, and land based litter are other types of waste found in the ocean.
Most Common Types Of Waste Found In The Ocean
[Fishing gear, industrial material, washed off plastics from products like cosmetics or synthetic fibres in textiles that are washed down drainage systems, and garbage/litter that comes from land, are the four main sources of waste found in the ocean] (euronews.com)
A majority of the most commonly found pieces of garbage floating in our oceans include items that we use on a daily basis and think nothing of it. These include:
1. Plastic Bottles
Plastic Bags
Cigarettes
Food Wrappers
Plastic Utensils
Straws
Beverage Cans
8. Paper Bags (and Styrofoam cups)
– banthebottle.net
Most Common Types Of Litter From The Land Found In The Ocean
[In the US, the littered plastic waste from the land that is most commonly found in ocean are food wrappers/containers, plastic bottle caps, beverage bottles, bags, and straws/stirrers (in that order]
[In order the next most common waste items are plastic lids, utensils, cigarette butts, foam take out containers, plastic take out containers, cigar tips, foam coups and plates, tobacco packaging, balloons, other plastic bottles, cigarette lighters, personal care products, 6 pack holders, and lastly, diapers]
– euronews.com
Land vs Marine Sources Of Plastic Waste In The Ocean
[In regards to plastic waste found in the ocean, around 70-80% comes from land based sources, and 20-30% from marine based sources (like fishing vessels)]
[In some parts of the ocean, such as where intensive fishing takes place, marine based sources of plastic waste reach up to around 50 to 60% of waste]
– ourworldindata.org
Much of the plastic in the ocean today comes directly from sources on land, often reaching the ocean as runoff that moves improperly discarded trash from land to river and finally, the ocean
… over a quarter of the plastic waste that goes into the ocean every year likely comes from the runoff of just ten rivers.
These ten rivers, eight of which are in Asia and two in Africa, are located adjacent to large cities where hundreds of millions of people live
– ocean.si.edu
Waste Found In The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
About 80% of the debris in the garbage patch comes from land-based activities in North America and Asia (banthebottle.net)
How To Reduce Ocean Waste
… to minimise ocean rubbish, we can reduce our waste, remove existing waste from the ocean and beaches, re-use and recycle, as well as continue to research and develop alternatives to plastic and the most common waste types, and better waste management and processing systems (ocean.si.edu)
Other Types Of Waste, Pollution & Runoff Found In The Ocean
Common types of waste are important, but not all waste has the potential to do the same damage or harm.
Some of the chemicals and more uncommon but potentially highly damaging and toxic types of waste that can get into the ocean can include …
[Pollution from land runoff that gets into rivers and runs into the ocean e.g. fertilizers and pesticides from farming/agriculture]
Illegal dumping of industrial, nuclear and other waste into oceans [in some parts of the world]
The most toxic waste material dumped into the ocean includes dredged material, industrial waste, sewage sludge, and radioactive waste.
Dredging contributes about 80% of all waste dumped into the ocean …
About 20-22% of dredged material is dumped into the ocean …
About 10% of all dredged material is polluted with heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury, and chromium, hydrocarbons such as heavy oils, nutrients including phosphorus and nitrogen, and organochlorines from pesticides …
Further information on some of the lesser known marine debris and toxic waste can be found at wikipedia.org
Most Common Types Of Waste Found On Beaches
Most Common Waste Found On Beaches
An International Coastal Cleanup report analysed items collected from beaches around the world on just one day in 2017, and the top items found (in order from most to least were:
Cigarette butts
Plastic beverage bottles
Plastic bottle caps
Food wrappers
Plastic grocery bags
Plastic lids
Straws and stirrers
Glass beverage bottles
Other plastic bags
Foam take away containers
In 2018, Ocean Conservancy reported (from a beach pick up volunteer event):
For the first time ever of the 33-year history, the top-10 most commonly found items on beaches around the world were all made of plastic
Cigarette butts, food wrappers, plastic beverage bottles, plastic bottle caps, plastic grocery bags, other plastic bags, straws and stirrers, plastic takeout containers, plastic lids, and foam take out containers were the top types of rubbish found
– nbclosangeles.com
During the 2011 International Coastal Cleanup, volunteers kept tally of the trash they found the most on beaches (they also kept number/quantity records too). The top ten were (in order of quantity found):
Cigarettes
Caps/Lids
Plastic Beverage Bottles
Plastic Bags
Food Wrappers/Containers
Cups, Plates, Forks, Knives, Spoons
Glass Beverage Bottles
Straws, Stirrers
Beverage Cans
Paper Bags
– care2.com
Single use disposable plastic is the most common waste found on beaches (oceantoday.noaa.gov)
According to Oceanconservancy.org, the most commonly picked up items on coastal clean ups globally (in order of most to least) are:
Cigarette Butts
Food Wrappers (from candy, chips etc.)
Straws, Stirrers
Forks, knives, spoons
Plastic beverage bottles
Plastic bottle caps
Plastic grocery bags
Other plastic bags
Plastic lids
Plastic cups, plates
… Read more about the numbers in their 2019 report at oceanconservancy.org
According to Oceanconservancy.org, the most commonly picked up items on coastal clean ups in the US (in order or most to least) are:
Cigarette Butts
Food Wrappers (from candy, chips etc.)
Plastic bottle caps
Plastic beverage bottles
Straws, Stirrers
Beverage cans
Plastic grocery bags
Glass beverage bottles
Other plastic/foam packaging
Metal bottle caps
… Read more about the numbers in their 2019 report at oceanconservancy.org
A recent 4Ocean volunteer clean up of Siesta Key Beach, Florida, returned the following numbers of waste found:
144 Straws
187 Pieces of cutlery
234 Plastic & Styrofoam Cups
355 Plastic Bags
463 Plastic Bottles
1,346 Caps
5,877 Cigarette Butts!
*Numbers taken from 4Ocean’s Facebook Page on 27th February, 2019
Most Common Tiny Trash Found On Coasts
In terms of tiny trash, the most common waste found on coastal cleanups are:
Plastic (over double the number of tiny foam trash)
Foam (almost 10x the amount of glass)
Glass
– oceanconservancy.org
How To Reduce Waste Found On Beaches
The three R’s can help reduce plastic waste …
Reduce the amount of disposable plastic you use. That’s anything you use once and throw away. Just use less.
Reuse disposable plastics when possible. A plastic bottle makes a great coin piggy bank or watering can. The possibilities are endless.
Recycle anything that can be recycled, so it stays out of landfills, where trash can blow away.
– oceantoday.noaa.gov
Most Common Marine Debris
Marine debris includes waste found both on beaches, and in oceans.
Most marine debris are made of plastic.
Marine debris, including plastics, paper, wood, metal and other manufactured materials is found on beaches worldwide and at all depths of the ocean.
About 60%-80% of all marine debris is composed of plastic [with specific estimates putting that number at around 75%) …
[The top marine debris found in cleanups over the last 25 years are:]
Cigarettes and filters 32%, Food wrappers and containers 9%, Caps and lids 8%, Tableware 6%, Plastic beverage bottles 6%, Plastic bags 5%,
– oceanhealthindex.org
What Are Some Of The Most Common Plastic Waste Items?
Since plastic is listed above as such a common waste materials that is found on beaches and in the ocean, we’ve listed some of the more common plastic waste items below …
Plastic packaging waste is the most common plastic waste generated amongst all types of plastic waste.
Some of the most common plastic waste and plastic packaging items found as litter might include:
Plastic shopping bags
Plastic food wrappers
Plastic take out waste
Plastic cutlery (forks, knives, plates, spoons etc,)
Plastic cups
Plastic straws and stirrers
Plastic bottles
Plastic lids and tops
Plastic is also found in products like cigarette butts and disposable diapers
Treehugger also has a list of 6 of the most common sources of plastic waste pollution at treehugger.com
Sources
1. https://www.banthebottle.net/articles/8-most-common-types-of-garbage-found-in-the-ocean/
2. https://www.care2.com/causes/10-most-common-types-of-ocean-trash.html
3. https://www.euronews.com/2018/04/20/what-plastic-objects-cause-the-most-waste-in-the-sea-
4. https://ocean.si.edu/conservation/pollution/marine-plastics
5. https://oceantoday.noaa.gov/trashtalk_plastics/
6. https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Ocean-Conservancy-California-Beaches-Trash-Litter-Cleanup-486723541.html
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_debris
8. http://www.grida.no/resources/6932
9. https://www.wastedive.com/news/report-cigarette-butts-plastic-bottles-most-common-beach-litter-in-the-wo/444751/
10. Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2019) – “Plastic Pollution”. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution’ [Online Resource]
11. https://marinebio.org/conservation/ocean-dumping/#targetText=Waste%20in%20the%20Ocean&targetText=The%20most%20toxic%20waste%20material,of%20material%20dumped%20each%20year
12. http://www.oceanhealthindex.org/methodology/components/trash-pollution
13. http://www.oceanhealthindex.org/news/Making_Least_Most_Marine_Trash
14. https://www.bettermeetsreality.com/what-is-plastic-used-for-in-society-sectors-that-use-the-most-plastic/
15. https://www.bettermeetsreality.com/most-commonly-littered-items-in-society-land-rivers-beaches-oceans/
16. https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution
17. https://www.treehugger.com/slideshows/culture/6-most-common-sources-plastic-pollution/
18. https://oceanconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Final-2019-ICC-Report.pdf
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