Plastic contamination of sandy beaches along the southern Baltic – a one season field survey results

The subject of this study was microplastics (>32 µm), large micro-/macroplastics (>2 mm) and plastic litter (visible by naked eye) contamination on sandy beaches and in coastal waters along the Polish coast of the Baltic Sea. Microplastics were studied with particular attention, with simultaneous observations in the water and across the beach. Other data was intended to serve as a background and as possible sources of microplastics. Most of the microplastics found were fibers <1 mm long, with blue fibers dominating, followed by transparent, red and green ones, both in sand and water samples. The concentration of microplastics on the beach sand ranged from 118 to 1382 pieces kg−1, while in coastal waters from 0.61 to 2.76 pieces dm−3. As for large micro-/macroplastics and plastic litter, there was no dominant litter along the coast. The amount of large micro-/macroplastics ranged from 2 to 124 pieces m−2 (or from 0.13 to 44.30 g m−2). Regarding plastic litter, on average between 0.03 and 6.15 litter debris m−2 were found (or from 0.007 to 4.600 g m−2). The study confirms that plastic pollution of the Polish coastal zone is a significant problem comparable with both the rest of the Baltic Sea and other seas and oceans. Similar color-based composition of microplastics among all studied sites suggests that they may have a common source, while the contamination of large micro-/macroplastics and plastic litter (both amount of particles and their composition) along the Polish coast is highly site-specific and may be influenced by various local factors.