Photo by Naja Bertolt Jensen
Food and beverage packaging has been confirmed as the world’s most common form of marine litter, in the first study to provide a globally harmonised overview of shoreline debris by usage type. Led by the University of Plymouth and published in the journal One Earth, the research brings together and evaluates more than 5,000 beach litter surveys spanning seven continents, nine ocean systems, 13 regional seas and 112 nations, representing 86% of the global population.
The analysis found that food and beverage-related plastics rank among the top three most abundant items on shorelines in 93% of countries surveyed, including the UK and the world’s five most populated nations: India, China, the USA, Indonesia, and Pakistan. Plastic food packaging, caps and lids, and plastic bottles were among the most frequently identified individual items in more than half of all nations. Plastic bags and cigarette butts followed as the next most prevalent categories. An estimated 20 million tonnes of plastic waste enters the environment each year.
The evidence is now undeniable
Professor Richard Thompson OBE FRS, founder and head of the University of Plymouth’s International Marine Litter Research Unit and the study’s senior author, said: “Plastic pollution is a global environmental problem that has major detrimental impacts on the environment, economies and human health. This study identifies for the first time the most abundant categories of debris at national, regional, and global scales, indicating not only where to prioritise interventions, but also which specific types of items to focus on. The research provides critical evidence to guide industry and policy on specific points of focus needed to address plastic pollution. For example, our research indicates actions on food and beverage related plastics are a key priority across 93 percent of nations worldwide.”
Dr Max Kelly, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Plymouth and the study’s lead author, added: “Compiling a marine litter dataset at this scale was a complex undertaking, but it has allowed us for the first time to map the most abundant items across shorelines worldwide. This paper provides undeniable evidence that single-use food and drink packaging is the major contributor to plastic pollution in our oceans globally and that actions to reduce consumption of these items will be a key step towards tackling this global environmental challenge.”
Waste management alone is not enough
The authors are explicit that recycling and waste collection cannot solve the problem at source. Professor Susan Jobling, Director of the PISCES project and of the Institute of Environment, Health, and Societies at Brunel University of London, said: “This study shows why plastic pollution cannot be solved by waste management alone. Across very different national contexts, including Indonesia, the same short-lived food and beverage plastics repeatedly dominate shoreline pollution. Through our project Plastics in Indonesian Societies (PISCES), UK Global Challenges Research Fund support has helped turn place-based research into globally relevant evidence, showing that upstream solutions, reduction, reuse, better packaging design and stronger policy, are essential if we are to prevent plastic pollution at source.”
The researchers call for urgent action to reduce the quantities of plastic produced in the first place – including ensuring that only plastics bringing essential benefit to society continue to be manufactured.
The research team
The study was led by the University of Plymouth alongside colleagues from Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Brunel University of London, and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The late Professor Paul Somerfield of PML, who helped develop the statistical approach used in the research, was acknowledged as a co-author; he passed away in 2023 before the paper’s publication. The research forms part of the £3.8 million PISCES project, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council. The full study — Kelly et al., Food and beverage plastics dominate global shorelines: A harmonized rank-based assessment of usage types to guide interventions – is published in One Earth (DOI: 10.1016/j.oneear.2026.101712).