Plastic food packaging blankets world’s coastlines, study finds

by Ashley Young

• A new study analyzes thousands of coastal litter surveys and other data from more than 100 countries to create the first global index by type of macroplastic pollution.
• The study found that in 93% of the countries surveyed, food and beverage plastics were the most common litter types, followed by plastic bags and cigarettes; The pattern was consistent across countries regardless of waste management infrastructure.
• Plastic pollution harms marine life and disrupts ecological services provided by coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, coral reefs and sea grasses.
• Researchers have called for a reduction in production, warning that waste management alone will not solve the global plastic pollution problem.

A new study confirms that food packaging ranks among the top plastic pollutants littering the world’s coastlines.

D StudyPublished May 20 in the journal one world analyzed data from 112 countries with 5,300 shoreline litter surveys to create the first global index of macroplastic pollution by type of use. Based on 355 peer-reviewed studies, it found that food and beverage plastics were the most common litter type for 93% of the countries surveyed.

Within this category, food packaging, caps and lids, and plastic bottles were the most consistently found items, appearing as the top three across more than half of the countries surveyed. It included five of the world’s most populous countries: China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Pakistan. Plastic bags and cigarettes followed as the next most prevalent category.

Lead author of the study, Max Richard Kelly The University of Plymouth in the UK said it was not surprised by the amount of plastic in food and drink on beaches but was surprised by the similarities between the countries surveyed. “Seeing the exact pattern replicated across most countries is a stark reminder of the crisis we face,” he said in an email to MangaBay.

Putting a lid on plastic pollution

The research comes at an uncertain time for global plastic governance. UN Global Plastics Agreement negotiations Stopped repeatedly Whether the agreement will focus more on waste management and consumption habits or reducing plastic production. According to Kelly, the new research provides evidence that can guide the industry on where it needs to focus to prevent plastic pollution.

“Our data reveal remarkably consistent pollution patterns globally, even across countries with different recycling infrastructure,” Kelly said. “This proves that waste management technology alone cannot keep up with the sheer volume of production. We must reduce the production of avoidable plastics and mandate that essential plastics are designed with end-of-life in mind from the start.”

Carmen Morales-Caselles, an associate professor at the University of Cadiz in Spain who led a similar global assessment in 2021, agreed. His team analyzed more than 12 million pieces of marine litter and found Take-away consumer products, particularly food and drink plastics, dominate marine litter worldwide.

“What is particularly valuable about this new study is that it demonstrates the same pattern on a national scale,” Morales-Caselles told Mongabay in an email. The study “provides strong independent confirmation that food and beverage plastics are a globally widespread pollutant category,” he added.

While measures such as cleanliness, waste management and recycling are important, he said they are not enough to keep up with the increasing amount of plastic entering the market. “Reducing unnecessary production, redesigning products and preventing leakage at the source has the potential to provide far greater and longer-lasting benefits to marine ecosystems than relying solely on end-of-pipe solutions,” he said.

According to a 2022 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, plastic can take hundreds of years to decompose, yet only 9% of the world’s plastic is recycled. Global Plastics Outlook. The rest is sent to landfills or leaked into the environment.

How Plastic Affects Marine Ecosystems

The effects of plastic pollution extend beyond littering the coast. Especially coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, sea grass meadows and coral reefs weak Plastic accumulation. Plastic disrupts the ecological services that these habitats provide and reduces their ability to serve as major carbon sinks.

co-authored the new study Muhammad Reza CordovaA marine scientist at Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), described the impact on some important ocean habitats. “When plastic waste accumulates in these habitats, it can physically suffocate roots, sediments and seagrass leaves, reducing light penetration and altering habitat quality,” he told Mongabay in an email. “In the long term, degraded ecosystems and conditions may reduce the ability of these habitats to store carbon and provide shelter and feeding grounds for young marine organisms.”

Mangroves and sea grass meadows are important nursery grounds for juvenile fish and crustaceans crucial to coastal food security. Reza said plastic pollution is another layer of pressure on habitats from coastal development and climate change.

Marine animals pay a more immediate price. Seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals to eat Plastic debris, mistake it for food. This can lead to internal obstruction, suffocation, starvation and death.

As larger macroplastics break down into microplastics, smaller marine life and fish further down the food chain are affected. The effects of toxic chemicals carried by these particles are still poorly understood in wildlife, as most studies have focused on long-term effects. Human health effects. In 2024, researchers found microplastic fibers in the breath Wild bottlenose dolphins (Cut Tursiops), showing that plastic has acted in the most basic biological systems of marine mammals.

Finding accessible solutions

Reza said low-income communities around the world are most dependent on single-use plastics because of affordability. Instead of banning such items, Reza said a better approach must include refill and reuse systems, bulk purchase options and enhanced producer responsibility frameworks that hold manufacturers accountable for the waste they generate.

“The goal should be to create options that remain affordable and accessible,” he said. “Otherwise, policies risk shifting costs to consumers without addressing the underlying problem.”

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Quote:

Kelly, MR, Cordova, MR, Jobling, S., Somerfield, P., & Thompson, RC (2026). Food and beverage plastics dominate global shorelines: a coherent rank-based assessment of use patterns indicative of intervention. one world101712. doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2026.101712

Morales-Caselles, C., Viejo, J., Marti, E., Gonzalez-Fernandez, D., Pragnel-Rush, H., Gonzalez-Gordillo, JI, … Cozar, A. (2021). An Intra-Offshore Sorting System Revealed from the Global Classification of Marine Litter. Sustainability of nature4(6), 484-493. doi:10.1038/s41893-021-00720-8

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Previously published with news.mongabay Creative Commons Attribution

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