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Posidonia Spheroids Intercepting Plastic Litter: Implication for Beach Clean-Ups
Summary
Researchers analyzed seagrass fiber balls (Posidonia spheroids) on four Mediterranean beaches and found they can trap significant quantities of plastic litter — up to 132 plastic items per kilogram of spheroid material. The study recommends that beach clean-up programs specifically target spheroid removal to prevent trapped plastics from being re-released into the sea as the plant material decomposes.
This study evaluates for the first time the plastic litter occurrence in Posidonia spheroids of four Mediterranean sandy beaches at different anthropogenic impact. A total of 80 spheroids was analyzed and 202 plastic items were found. Spheroids entangled a high number of plastic litter (132 plastic items/kg) with significant differences between beaches. Our results highlight the importance to implement the beach cleaning plan for the removal of all spheroids in order to prevent them from flaking and releasing the marine litter trapped inside them again in the environment. Spheroids should be manually removed in order to protect the banquettes. The removal should be involved all spheroids, independently from their size. This study adds data for the implementation of the monitoring program of marine litter and contributes to the development of specific management measures as well as implement Mediterranean action plans.