Spatio-temporal variations of litter on Qingdao tourist beaches in China

Beaches are an integral part of coastal tourism, but they are deteriorated by the beachgoers and recreational activities due to lack of adequate beach environmental awareness and management. Litter is widely distributed in marine and coastal environment and has been considered a severe concern. In China investigations to determine the beach litter abundance and pollution level are limited. The aim of this study is to estimate spatio-temporal distribution and composition of litter on 10 well-known Qingdao tourist beaches, involving pollution level by beach quality indexes. Beach litter was collected within an area of 25 × 25 m² in both summer (May, June and July) and winter (Nov, Dec and Jan) seasons, and was classified into eight categories. The abundance of beach litter was found higher in summer (0.13 ± 0.04 items/m²) than in winter (0.04 ± 0.01 items/m²). Overall, the percentage of plastics were higher in both summer (23.48%) and winter (24.04%) than that of other litter categories. Based on Clean Coast Index, 70% of beaches were very clean, 25% clean, and 5% moderately clean. Beach Grade Index showed that 15% beaches were very good, 5% good, 55% fair, and 25% poor. 85% beaches constituted some quantity of hazardous litter and 15% had no hazardous litter for Hazardous Items index. The findings suggest that the sources of beach litter along Qingdao beaches mainly come from the recreational and tourist activities. The substantial quantity of litter is also being transported by ocean (tides or current), which are finally deposited along beachfront. Despite regular cleaning operation along most of Qingdao beaches, suggested management practices involve mitigation measures, source reduction, change in littering behavior to improve further quality of beaches.