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(Micro)plastics: A possible criterion for beach certification with a focus on the Blue Flag Award
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This paper argues that microplastic pollution should be incorporated as a criterion in beach quality certification programs like the Blue Flag Award. Including plastics monitoring would better reflect actual environmental health and encourage cleaner beach management.
On the one hand, environmental certifications like the Blue Flag award (BFA) are well-known globally for its role in beach management and tourism attraction. Plastic pollution like microplastics, on the other hand, has become a global concern due to their increasing persistence and negative environmental repercussions. This paper examines and discusses the factors that would lead to (micro)plastics being included to the BFA as a criterion. Thereby, we attempt to maximize BFA's potential as a tool for better understanding (micro)plastics on beaches and implementing strategies to reduce them. The anticipated primary benefits are: 1) knowing the degree of litter disposal and microplastic contamination, 2) conducting close monitoring, 3) having an accessible database for numerous coastlines throughout the world, 4) evaluating management strategies and making improvements, 5) assisting in long-term research, 6) having a responsible entity in charge of issue decision-making, and 7) a larger public/scientific outreach.
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Rethinking the Environmental Quality of Brazilian Beaches: The Incidence of Microplastics as Indicator for Sea Water and Sand Quality
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This paper proposes using microplastic levels in beach sand and seawater as indicators of beach environmental quality, arguing that current assessments in Brazil focus too narrowly on microbial contamination. The authors present evidence that microplastic contamination poses health risks to swimmers and coastal communities that should be incorporated into beach quality standards.
The Method of Studying Microplastics Pollution in the Beach and Bottom Sediments of Different Granulometric Composition
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This paper presents a method for studying microplastic pollution on beaches, describing a field sampling and laboratory analysis protocol for characterizing plastic particles in beach sediments. Standardized beach monitoring methods are essential for generating comparable data across different coastal locations.
Impact of microplastic pollution on coastal ecosystems using comprehensive beach quality indices
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This study applied three beach quality indices to assess microplastic pollution in Chinese beach sediments, finding that all sampled beaches rated "very high" pollution and "bad" environmental status. The work provides a standardized framework for quantifying microplastic impact on beach environments, which is useful for guiding cleanup priorities and policy decisions.
Plastic contamination of sandy beaches along the southern Baltic – a one season field survey results
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Researchers surveyed microplastic and macroplastic contamination along the Polish Baltic Sea coast, finding microplastic concentrations of 118–1,382 pieces/kg in beach sand and 0.61–2.76 pieces/dm3 in coastal waters, with sub-1 mm blue fibers dominating across all sites and suggesting a common fibrous source throughout the Polish coastal zone.
Microlitter Quality assurance and Quality control approaches to enable the comparability of data in European Seas
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Researchers examined quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) approaches for microlitter monitoring in European seas, identifying the lack of harmonized protocols across sampling and analysis methods as a key barrier to producing comparable microplastic data across different national and regional monitoring programs.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.