Poluição Marinha em Praia Urbanizada no Sudeste do Brasil

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Marine Pollution Bulletin 163 (2021) 111978
Available online 16 January 2021
0025-326X/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Marine litter on a highly urbanized beach at Southeast Brazil: A 
contribution to the development of litter monitoring programs 
Victor V. Ribeiro a, Mariana A.S. Pinto a, Raul K.B. Mesquita a, Lucas Buruaem Moreira a, 
Mônica F. Costa b, ́Italo Braga Castro a,* 
a Instituto do Mar, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Santos, Brazil 
b Departamento de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil 
A R T I C L E I N F O 
Keywords: 
Plastic 
Cigarette butts 
Pollution 
Citizen science 
Waste 
A B S T R A C T 
Seasonal distribution of Marine Litter (ML) on Santos beaches was assessed using a citizen science strategy. 
Plastics and cigarette butts (CB) were the dominant items in all sampling campaigns. Seasonal distribution did 
not result in significant differences for most items. Plastic and CB amounts were high in summer compared to 
autumn. For all sampled sites the presence of beach users influenced ML densities. However, results showed that 
some sites presented an additional influence of local hydrodynamic. Moderate amounts of hazardous items 
including metal, glass, CB, sanitary waste and plastic tubes used to pack and market illicit drugs represented 
between 20.8 and 31% of all ML over the seasons. The beaches of Santos were classified as dirty in autumn and 
spring and as extremely dirty in winter and summer. These findings can serve as a baseline to support mitigating 
actions by public authorities and start monitoring programs of ML not only in Santos but also in other urbanized 
beaches. 
1. Introduction 
Marine Litter (ML) is understood as all manufactured solid materials 
discarded or abandoned that reach marine and coastal environment 
through waterways of domestic and industrial outfalls (CPPS, 2007; 
National Academy of Sciences, 1975; UNEP, 2009). Urban density near 
the coast had a worldwide increase during the last decades. Hence, the 
anthropogenic pressures over such zones have led to constant discharges 
of different residues (Cabral et al., 2019). The degradation of landscapes 
by litter is an issue that have negatively affected economic activities, 
including tourism (Lo et al., 2020). In addition, considering that 
different types of hazardous materials as plastics, glass, ceramics, 
metals, textiles and wood compose the marine litter, these residues are 
also closely related to marine and coastal pollution (Galgani et al., 
2019). Indeed, recent studies pointed out deleterious effects over 
different levels of biological organization, from biochemical damage to 
changes in the composition of natural communities (Henderson and 
Green, 2020; Tutman et al., 2017). Therefore, ML is one of the most 
troubling environmental issues of our time that is already affecting every 
marine environment around the world, even in remotest places (Dunlop 
et al., 2020). 
Land-based activities have been accounted for 80% of ML discharges 
(Hartley et al., 2018). The mismanagement of garbage/waste is the main 
source of this contamination, that are originate from household, in-
dustrial and local businesses (Thiel et al., 2013). Further, recreational 
and tourist activities held in beaches have been identified as major 
sources of ML (Asensio-Montesinos et al., 2019). Consequently, the 
occurrence of ML has been registered along the shorelines, surface 
sediments, sea floor, water column and associated to marine organisms. 
In addition, the spatial distribution of such residues is influenced by its 
composition, buoyancy, size and shape, combined with action of winds, 
biofouling, currents, wave action and other factors (Addamo et al., 
2018). From a seasonal perspective, ML occurrence is often related to 
tourist activities (Campana et al., 2018), mostly during summer (Asen-
sio-Montesinos et al., 2019). However, some studies showed no signifi-
cant differences among seasons due the influence of factors such as 
public cleaning or transport by environmental processes (Terzi and 
Seyhan, 2017a; Williams et al., 2017). 
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have played an essential 
role in global garbage monitoring, and reports issued by such groups are 
a major source of information regarding this matter (Addamo et al., 
2018; Campbell et al., 2019). Citizen science programs organized by 
* Corresponding author. 
E-mail address: ibcastro@unifesp.br (́I.B. Castro). 
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect 
Marine Pollution Bulletin 
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.111978 
Received 28 October 2020; Received in revised form 28 November 2020; Accepted 3 January 2021 
mailto:ibcastro@unifesp.br
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Marine Pollution Bulletin 163 (2021) 111978
2
NGOs often recruit local communities and other stakeholders to collect, 
analyze and report data on ML occurrence from local to global scale. 
Campbell et al. (2019) also stated that such activities have contributed 
to raise environmental awareness, identification of sources and in the 
removal of tons of ML from coastal areas. Furthermore, the imple-
mentation of public policies were based on data analysis generated by 
such organizations (Richards and Heard, 2005). Nowadays there are 
several NGOs dedicated to combat and reduce ML in global scale. In 
developing countries, however, similar actions have been carried out in 
local scenarios (Becherucci et al., 2017; Ivar do Sul and Costa, 2007). 
In Brazil, some studies allowed the identification and quantification 
of ML in different beaches along the coast (Andrades et al., 2020; Araújo 
et al., 2018; Corraini et al., 2018; Fernandino et al., 2015a, 2015b; Leite 
et al., 2014; Machado and Fillmann, 2010; Marin et al., 2019; Santos 
et al., 2020; Silva et al., 2018; Suciu et al., 2017). However, in the 
central portion of São Paulo coast, which presents one of the highest 
urban density in Brazil (1494 hab./km2), no studies assessing spatial or 
seasonal distribution of urban ML were done so far. Additionally, the 
metropolitan region of Santos is affected by the activities of petro-
chemical, steel and fertilizer industries at Cubatão municipally and also 
the largest port complex in Latin America, located at the estuarine sys-
tem (Begliomini et al., 2017; Pusceddu et al., 2019). Thus, the region is a 
well-known case of complex environmental impacts caused by multiple 
anthropogenic activities. 
Besides the industrial and port activities, Santos is also a tourist city, 
receiving a floating population estimated at 1.5 million people during 
the summer, many of which make recreational use of the beaches 
(Lescreck et al., 2016). This contingent generates jobs and income for 
local residents while enhancing the costs of public cleaning services. 
Thus, based in recent studies reporting the prevalence of ML in highly 
urbanized beaches (Leite et al., 2014), we consider that ML assessments 
of these areas can provide an essential contribution to the development 
of worldwide marine litter monitoring programs. Considering this sce-
nario, the main objective of this study is to evaluate the seasonality 
distribution of ML on Santos beaches, using citizen science strategies 
and producing scientific diagnoses on its composition to assist the 
decision-making process on waste management by the public 
authorities. 
2. Material and methods 
Santos Estuarine System presents two estuarine channels draining 
towards Santos bay (23◦58′36′′S/46◦20′7′′W). This bay receives 
contaminant releases from industrial complexes, port terminals located 
along the channels.In addition, the presence of a submarine sewage 
outfall combined with urban occupation has been pointed out as rele-
vant sources of contaminants to Santos bay (Abreu et al., 2020). The 
circulation inside the bay is strongly influenced by mixed tides, cold 
fronts, intense rainfall regime and variations in sea level (Harari and 
Camargo, 1998). Also, the bay presents a low hydrodynamics regime 
being bordered by approximately 7 km of sandy beaches highly urban-
ized and presenting similar environmental features (Fig. 1). On the other 
hand, seasonal conditions of coastal currents, waves, and tides influ-
encing the sand strip have been reported (Freire et al., 2018; Magini 
et al., 2007). 
The Instituto Mar Azul (IMA) is an NGO operating in Santos since 
2015, using beach clean-ups as a tool for promoting environmental 
awareness. In the present study the expertise of IMA was utilized for the 
dissemination, recruitment and training of volunteers, covering the 
sampling campaigns, separation and accountancy of ML collected. The 
recruitment used a database already created by IMA during previous 
clean-up campaigns. The attendees had from 8 to 70 years old and were 
connected to private companies, schools, scouts’ groups and other 
NGOs. After registering, a 1 h-long training workshop was performed 
with the attendees, explaining the clean-up objectives and methodo-
logical procedures. Such workshops were always held during the week 
before the sampling campaigns. 
According to the methodology established by the European Com-
mission/OSPAR (Galgani et al., 2013), six sampling transects of 50 m 
length were defined, distributed equidistantly along the range delimited 
Fig. 1. Location of transects defined for seasonal ML monitoring on Santos beaches (a) and the beach screening approach using citizen scientists to collect sam-
ples (b). 
V.V. Ribeiro et al. 
Marine Pollution Bulletin 163 (2021) 111978
3
by the low tide (Fig. 1a). For this study, the transects were considered 
sampling replicates for the seasonal analysis, but the individual results 
were also discussed in terms of spatial distribution. Four campaigns 
were carried out between the autumn of 2019 and the summer of 2020 
aiming to investigate the seasonal distribution, composition, and 
amounts of ML. The samplings were performed always on Saturdays, 
between 9 and 12 am, by 20 citizen scientists at each transect, totaling 
120 people per campaign. All manufactured or processed residues 
collected were stored for analysis. The sampling area of transects were 
calculated for each campaign based on distances between the upper 
limit of the beaches and the waterline in that day (Fig. 1b). 
After each sampling campaign, all collected items were separated 
into categories adopted by the United Nations Environment Program in 
collaboration with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission 
(UNEP/IOC, 2009) to quantify solid waste in beach areas. These cate-
gories included items made up of unique materials, such as plastic, 
styrofoam, metal, glass, paper, and manufactured wood. In addition, 
residues with high incidence presenting a mixed composition were 
classified into exclusive categories, including cigarette butts (Araújo and 
Costa, 2019). Additionally, items with low occurrence were grouped 
into a category assigned as “others” which included, tires, inner tubes, 
compound toys, lighters, cutlery, shoes and clothing. After the separa-
tion by category, the materials were individually counted, and the data 
obtained were recorded for statistical analysis. After data processing and 
generation of the final diagnosis, all collected material were destined to 
recycling programs or forwarded to the public cleaning system. 
For all individual litter categories, the densities (
∑
items on transect/ 
total area of transect in m2) were calculated based in each sampling 
campaign. The Clean-Coast Index (CCI) was obtained by season ac-
cording to Alkalay et al. (2007), using the following equation: CCI = (
∑
litter on transect/total area of transect) × K, where is the K (constant) =
20. Later, each season was categorized for cleanliness according to the 
scale provided by Alkalay et al. (2007). In addition, the total of items 
offering potential health risks were used to calculate the Hazardous 
Items Index (HII). Such a group was formed by sharp blades, CB, med-
icine containers, condoms, safe-lock microcentrifuge plastics tubes used 
to pack and market illicit drugs, and sanitary wastes. Then, HII consisted 
ofthe total hazardous items per m2, considering the relation between 
their occurrence and all residues collected by transecton a logarithmic 
scale (log10) (Rangel-Buitrago et al., 2019a). 
Data on ML collected in Santos were assessed using the non- 
parametric permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMA-
NOVA), assuming a nonparametric distribution (Anderson et al., 2008). 
For each category, significant differences of calculated densities among 
sampling campaigns were tested through a one-way PERMANOVA 
considering season as a fixed factor with 4 levels (autumn, winter, 
spring, and summer). A resemblance matrix was constructed based on 
the Euclidean distance, and pairwise comparisons were performed 
following 4999 permutations of raw data (unrestricted permutation 
method). After that, if existent, significant differences were reported (p 
< 0.05). The results of total items were also analyzed by means of a 
nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination to explore as-
sociations of litter categories, for investigation of its origin. First, a 
matrix was constructed consisting of transects as samples and litter 
categories as variables. Data were normalized by the subtract of means 
and divide by its standard deviation. After that, a resemblance matrix 
was constructed based on the Euclidean distance and a 2-d ordination 
carried with the minimal stress calculated by the Kruskal’s method. Both 
analyzes were performed using the software PRIMER® (version 6) 
(Clarke and Gorley, 2006). 
3. Results and discussion 
3.1. ML composition 
A total of 62,638 items distributed in ten categories were collected 
during the four sampling campaigns. Plastic debris, polystyrene foam 
(XPS), and cotton swabs were the most prevalent categories in all sea-
sons, with percentages ranging from 64.8–72.5% (Table 1). In fact, the 
global average of plastic among ML in sandy beaches monitoring have 
been estimated in 75% (Galgani et al., 2013; Šilc et al., 2018), ranging 
between 61 and 87% in other assessments (Asensio-Montesinos et al., 
2020; Gjyli et al., 2020; Munari et al., 2016; Nachite et al., 2019; Nelms 
et al., 2020; Sarafraz et al., 2016; Šilc et al., 2018; Terzi et al., 2020). In 
studies performed in Portugal, Ionian sea, Italy and Australia, plastic 
residues accounted for more than 93% of all items collected (Pieper 
et al., 2019; Poeta et al., 2016; Prevenios et al., 2018; Wilson and Verlis, 
2017). Plastic items are usually found in densities between 0.0 and 1.0 
items/m2 (Zhou et al., 2011), but reached 3.8 items/m2 on the Black sea 
coast (Aytan et al., 2019). It is important to highlight that such studies 
reporting higher plastic amounts included CB among plastic debris. 
However, CB are items composed by paper, ashes, tobacco, and the 
cellulose acetate filter, being more appropriately classified as a separate 
category (Araújo and Costa, 2019). 
CB were the second most frequent item, accounting for 15.5% of all 
waste collected during the winter and reaching 24.1% in the summer. It 
is well documented that CB often compose percentages between <1.0 
and 20% of ML on beaches (Hengstmann et al., 2017; Nelms et al., 2017; 
Pasternak et al., 2017; Pieper et al., 2019; Roseveltet al., 2013; Silva 
et al., 2016; Smith et al., 2014; Suciu et al., 2017). However, recent 
studies have reported values between 22.9 and 53.2% in Italy, Morocco, 
Bulgaria, Chile, Hawaii and Argentina (Becherucci et al., 2017; Blickley 
et al., 2016; Hidalgo-Ruz et al., 2018; Maziane et al., 2018; Munari et al., 
2016; Simeonova et al., 2017). The high abundance of CB and small 
plastic fragments are possibly related to the inefficiency of the me-
chanical cleaning daily performed along Santos beaches as previously 
reported by Ribeiro and Santos (2020), which assessed plastic pellets 
distribution in the same area. 
XPS was the third most prevalent material (8.5–10.5%). Around the 
world, records reaching 8.2% of total ML were seen in a Chinese beach 
with high beachgoers flow (Pervez et al., 2020). In addition, values up to 
19.3% were recorded in beaches with access limited only to local in-
habitants in Turkish Coast (Terzi et al., 2020), and 41% in central Cal-
ifornia (Rosevelt et al., 2013). Often, the occurrence of XPS on beaches 
has been associated with fishing gear, discarded or brought in by tides 
and coastal currents (Gallo et al., 2018). However, in the present study, 
most of XPS items were associated with take-away food, mostly cups and 
plates. 
Metal (2.4–5.9%), paper (2.6–6.2%), wood (0.8–2%), glass 
(0.1–0.6%) and other residues (1.7–4.5%) presented a relative abun-
dance similar or slightly above to that observed by other studies 
assessing ML occurrence on urban beaches (Leite et al., 2014). Such 
categories usually have lower relative abundances, probably due to the 
societal preference for plastics combined with its persistence in the 
marine environment (Derraik, 2002). 
Despite the increased amounts of ML (30% observed in summer), no 
statistical differences (PERMANOVA, p > 0.05) were seen based on total 
collected residues. In fact, ML densities seasonally distributed in Santos 
beach presented high standard deviations (sd) among the replicates. 
Likewise, regardless seasonal variations, no statistical differences 
(PERMANOVA, p > 0.05) among individual densities of XPS, cotton 
swabs, paper, wood, and others were observed (Fig. 2). On the other 
hand, CB and plastic debris were less prevalent in autumn while higher 
amounts of glass and metals were elevated in winter and summer, 
respectively. Variations on standard deviations of ML amounts have 
been reported by recent studies (García-Rivera et al., 2018; Schulz et al., 
2015). However, no marked seasonal trends have been demonstrated for 
beaches located in remote (Ríos et al., 2018) or urban areas (Terzi and 
Seyhan, 2017b). Thus, even considering a higher number of beach users 
during the summer, the seasonal distribution of ML categories 
throughout the year seems to be related to factors other than he number 
of visitors. 
V.V. Ribeiro et al. 
Marine Pollution Bulletin 163 (2021) 111978
4
High sedimentation rates have been reported in Santos bay near R3 
and R4 (around +1.6 m/year) due to the influence of local oceano-
graphic parameters as coastal currents, waves and tides (Freire et al., 
2018; Magini et al., 2007). Around R3, the low energy refraction current 
combined with estuarine flows from the Santos estuary (see map in 
Fig. 1) transports residues from East to West (Harari and Camargo, 
1998). This may explain some high ML amounts observed in R1, R2 and, 
especially in R3. Sedimentation rates of +0.37 m/year have been re-
ported in R3, while negative values were found in R5 (− 2.0 m/year) and 
R6 (− 3.4 m/year) (Freire et al., 2018). On the other hand, according to 
Table 1 
Marine litter items in percent (%) and number per square meter collected during seasonal sampling campaigns in Santos beaches. 
Category Autumn Winter Spring Summer 
% Items/m2 % Items/m2 % Items/m2 % Items/m2 
Plastic (mix of polymers) 55.8 0.370 ± 0.174 60.2 0.522 ± 0.219 54.8 0.429 ± 0.378 55.2 0.681 ± 0.192 
Polystyrene foam (XPS) 9.3 0.062 ± 0.056 10.6 0.092 ± 0.054 8.5 0.066 ± 0.043 9.6 0.129 ± 0.08 
Cotton swabs 1.5 0.010 ± 0.004 1.7 0.015 ± 0.011 1.5 0.011 ± 0.007 1.1 0.016 ± 0.013 
Total plastic debris 66.6 0.532 ± 0.078 72.5 0.629 ± 0.094 64.8 0.506 ± 0.144 65.9 0.826 ± 0.095 
Cigarette butts 19.7 0.130 ± 0.052 15.5 0.135 ± 0.232 19.6 0.153 ± 0.079 24.1 0.283 ± 0.112 
Metal 5.9 0.039 ± 0.020 2.4 0.021 ± 0.029 2.7 0.021 ± 0.013 4.8 0.051 ± 0.023 
Paper 3.2 0.021 ± 0.021 4.6 0.040 ± 0.034 6.2 0.049 ± 0.027 2.6 0.030 ± 0.017 
Wood 1.2 0.008 ± 0.005 1.5 0.013 ± 0.018 2.0 0.015 ± 0.009 0.8 0.001 ± 0.006 
Glass 0.6 0.004 ± 0.003 0.4 0.004 ± 0.012 0.4 0.003 ± 0.008 0.1 0.008 ± 0.001 
Others 3.1 0.020 ± 0.013 3.2 0.027 ± 0.019 4.5 0.035 ± 0.037 1.7 0.023 ± 0.011 
Total 100 0.669 ± 0.292 100 1.005 ± 0.555 100 0.783 ± 0.567 100 1.224 ± 0.374 
Fig. 2. Seasonal distribution (items/m2 - mean ± sd) of different marine litter categories in Santos beaches during autumn, winter and spring of 2019 and summer 
of 2020. 
V.V. Ribeiro et al. 
Marine Pollution Bulletin 163 (2021) 111978
5
Turra et al. (2014) the occurrence of plastic pellets in Santos beaches is 
influenced by local hydro and aerodynamic behavior which affect 
spatial distribution of these residues by mechanisms of transport and 
deposition. This study found the highest amounts of plastic pellets 
around R4, R5 and mostly in R6. A similar trend of ML distribution was 
observed for pellets accumulation in the final portion of the beach arch 
due to marine circulation (Turra et al., 2014). Thus, the distribution of 
ML (especially floating debris) in Santos presented similar patterns to 
plastic pellets considering the sedimentation rates reported. From a 
seasonal perspective, in autumn Turra et al. (2014) observed a higer 
density of pellets in R4 as noted in the present study at the same site and 
season. Such findings suggest that at least part of the floating waste 
collected in R1, R2 and R3 had an allochthonous origin. 
The nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) based on litter 
categories (regardless of the seasons), exhibited an excellent represen-
tation of reduced dimensions (stress of 0.05) indicating an association 
between metals and CB (Fig. 3). Almost all metals collected during the 
sampling campaigns were cans, lids and pull tabs of beverage cans, 
which accounted for the total residues collected in autumn (5.9%), 
winter (2.4%), spring (2.7%) and summer (4.8%). In fact, the concom-
itant consumption of beverages and cigarettes is a quite common habit 
on Brazilian beaches. Moreover, according to Santos et al. (2005) 
smokers usually leave these residues in the sand without concern. This is 
a relevant issue, since metals and cigarette butts are garbage that pose 
potential risks to both beach users and fauna, considering the possibility 
of physical injuries, drowning, and release of toxic substances (Rangel- 
Buitrago et al., 2019a). CB may contain thousands of hazardous chem-
icals including carcinogenic substances such polycyclic aromatic hy-
drocarbons and nitrosamines (Pack et al., 2019) that may be leached to 
seawater. Another group of items include plastic debris, XPS and cotton 
swabs, which were separated from the remaining categories (paper, 
metal, glass, and others). In this case, this association corroborate the 
hypothesis of allochthonous origin for plastic debris discussed above. 
Results demonstrate the influence of local specificities regarding the 
beach use along different sectors. For example, R5 and R6 are pre-
dominantly used forwater sports as canoeing, kayak, and stand-up 
paddle. Therefore, fewer bathers and food traders make use of this 
sector. On the other hand, R1, R2, R3, and R4 have a number of facilities, 
including tables and chairs used by commerce to serve beach visitors. 
Thus, spatial and temporal distribution of ML along Santos beaches seem 
to be under simultaneous influence of direct discard by the beach users 
(in number and distribution during different seasons) and water/wind 
transport. 
3.2. Clean-Coast Index (CCI) 
CCI has been widely used to assess ML contamination worldwide. It 
provides a suitable categorization with five cleanliness levels (very clean, 
clean, moderate, dirty and extremely dirty) allowing more accurate com-
parisons (Alkalay et al., 2007). All studied sites were classified as dirty by 
CCI in at least one season. In the summer, almost every site (except R5) 
was extremely dirty; as well as R1 in winter, and R3 in spring and autumn. 
The moderate classification occurred in R1 in winter, R2 and R4 in 
autumn and R1 and R4 in spring (Fig. 4a). The average values per season 
were classified as dirty in autumn (14.6) and spring (15.8) and extremely 
dirty in winter (20.1) and summer (24.5) (Fig. 4b). It is important to 
highlight that the sampling campaigns in R5 were not performed during 
winter and spring due to low number of volunteers available during this 
period. 
Andrades et al. (2020) assessed CCI in 44 Brazilian beaches along 35 
degrees of latitude. Considering the studied areas, highest CCI values 
(extremely dirty) were seen in urbanized beaches located in different 
regions of Brazil. Such report is in accordance with the pattern observed 
in Santos, which has more than 430 thousand inhabitants. On the other 
hand, most beaches categorized as dirty by Andrades et al. (2020) were 
far from urban centers. This observation suggests that the efficiency of 
public cleaning services combined with both water and wind transports, 
and estuarine discharges influence ML densities on sandy beaches. The 
amounts of residues recorded in Santos allow to classify its beaches 
among the most contaminated by ML in Brazil. From a seasonal 
perspective, few studies have considered four, or even two seasons in 
their sample designs. Additionally, the few seasonal studies providing 
CCI values have pointed out no clear correlation with seasons (Kuo and 
Huang, 2014; Mokos et al., 2020). In most cases, this lack of correlation 
has also been attributed to the occurrence of multiple ML sources 
including touristic activities and beach cleaning associated to transport 
and deposition. 
3.3. Hazardous Items Index (HII) 
In Latin America, sharp blades and toxic debris have been recently 
categorized as hazardous litter items due to its inherent impacts on 
Fig. 3. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) plot of litter categories in Santos beaches. 
V.V. Ribeiro et al. 
Marine Pollution Bulletin 163 (2021) 111978
6
health. According to Rangel-Buitrago et al. (2019a), this category in-
cludes metal, glass, CB and sanitary waste leading to direct or indirect 
risks to people (and fauna). In the present study, safe-lock micro-
centrifuge plastic tubes used to pack and market illicit drugs such as 
cocaine and crack were also considered as hazardous items. These often 
contain traces of the drugs and were found in all transects throughout 
the seasonal sampling campaigns, ranging from 89 units (0.004 item/ 
m2) in winter to 237 (0.010 item/m2) during the autumn. From a spatial 
perspective, tubes were often found in R2 (130 items) and R3 (172 
items). Such findings could be used to guide public health interventions, 
especially in periods of greater incidence. 
The percentages of total hazardous items were determined for 
autumn (29.2%), winter (20.8%), spring (24.8%) and summer (31%) 
(Fig. 5a). Similarity, the calculated values of Hazardous Items Index 
(HII) ranged from 0.8 in winter to 2.0 during the summer (Fig. 5b). 
Therefore, based on the HII classification proposed by Rangel-Buitrago 
et al. (2019a), Santos beaches presented some hazardous marine debris 
over a large area (type II). However, in the summer a considerable 
amount of hazardous items were collected, since the beaches were 
categorized as type III. This pattern suggests a higher contribution from 
beach users, probably because their number tends to triplicate in high 
season. Similar pattern was observed along an urban coastal strip in Las 
Salinas, Viña Del Mar (Chile), witch presented HII values between 0.2 
and 2.3 with different beach sectors categorized as type II or III (Rangel- 
Buitrago et al., 2019b). Moreover, high HII values were reported in a 
study held by the same research team in a remote island of the Colom-
bian Caribbean Sea. In this case, despite isolation, this island acted as a 
sink for large amounts of ML from the nearby areas (Rangel-Buitrago 
et al., 2019a). Based on this scenario, the beaches of Santos offer a 
certain level of health risk to users, especially during the summer. This 
situation may reduce touristic attractions affecting the local economy as 
reported for Europe (Brouwer et al., 2017). 
4. Conclusion 
Plastic debris and CB were the dominant items on Santos beaches 
considering the spatial and seasonal assessments. Based on composition 
and densities of ML, the presence of bathers plays essential role on beach 
contamination, although in some sites local hydrodynamic also 
contribute to ML deposition. Thus, more effective actions based on the 
ML sources must be implemented by the local public authorities. In this 
sense, public policies for awareness, inspection and disposal regulation 
can be an appropriate way to minimize the problem. Such actions are 
even more important considering the frequency of hazardous and sani-
tary waste, which may lead to public health issues affecting residents 
and visitors. Moreover, the high levels of ML threaten the tourism, 
which is an important socio-economic activity in Santo city. In this re-
gard, well-planned monitoring programs assessing temporal trends is 
the best way to verify the effectiveness of the policies eventually 
implemented. Therefore, the present study can serve as a valuable 
baseline to support mitigating actions and monitoring programs in ur-
banized beaches, such as those from the city of Santos. 
CRediT authorship contribution statement 
Victor V. Ribeiro: Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original 
Fig. 4. Clean Coast Index (CCI) by sampled sites (a) and average per seasons (b) calculated for Santos beaches. 
Fig. 5. Seasonal percentages of hazardous debris (a) and values of Hazardous 
Items index by season (b) calculated for Santos beach. 
V.V. Ribeiro et al. 
Marine Pollution Bulletin 163 (2021) 111978
7
draft. Mariana A.S. Pinto: Investigation, Methodology, Writing – re-
view & editing. Raul K.B. Mesquita: Investigation, Methodology, 
Writing – review & editing. Lucas Buruaem Moreira: Writing – review 
& editing. Mônica F. Costa: Writing – review & editing. Ítalo Braga 
Castro: Conceptualization, Project administration, Writing – original 
draft, Writing – review & editing. 
Declaration of competing interest 
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial 
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence 
the work reported in this paper. 
Acknowledgments 
This research was support by São Paulo Research Foundation 
(FAPESP n. 2019/13750-4). I.B. Castro (PQ 302713/2018-2) was 
recipient of research productivityfellowship from the CNPq. The author 
thanks the NGO Instituto Mar Azul (IMA) by logistic support and all 
citizen scientists who participated during beach clean-ups. 
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	Marine litter on a highly urbanized beach at Southeast Brazil: A contribution to the development of litter monitoring programs
	1 Introduction
	2 Material and methods
	3 Results and discussion
	3.1 ML composition
	3.2 Clean-Coast Index (CCI)
	3.3 Hazardous Items Index (HII)
	4 Conclusion
	CRediT authorship contribution statement
	Declaration of competing interest
	Acknowledgments
	References