| Title |
Persistent marine litter: small plastics and cigarette butts remain on beaches after organized beach cleanups
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, June 2018
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s10661-018-6798-9 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Xenia I. Loizidou, Michael I. Loizides, Demetra L. Orthodoxou |
| Abstract |
Cyprus is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean whose economy is largely dependent on coastal tourism. It boasts some of the cleanest waters in Europe and has the largest number of Blue Flag awarded beaches per capita in the world. These beaches are managed by local authorities and are regularly cleaned, throughout the year, at least once per day. This paper presents findings from cleanups that were organized over the summers of 2016 and 2017 on nine Blue Flag beaches around the island of Cyprus, after the beaches were cleaned by the responsible authorities. The aim was to answer the following questions: 'Are regular beach cleanups by local authorities efficient?' and 'What is left on a "clean" beach?' The results suggest that local authority cleanup efforts are quite successful at collecting larger pieces of marine litter, leaving the beach seemingly clean. However, small pieces of litter, such as cigarette butts and small pieces of plastic items related to recreational activities, remain on the beach. They likely accumulate or are buried over time, with some items becoming a nuisance to beach goers and a potential source of marine litter. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 2 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 1 | 50% |
| Canada | 1 | 50% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Scientists | 2 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 157 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 157 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Bachelor | 24 | 15% |
| Student > Master | 21 | 13% |
| Researcher | 21 | 13% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 15 | 10% |
| Other | 8 | 5% |
| Other | 13 | 8% |
| Unknown | 55 | 35% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental Science | 44 | 28% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 12 | 8% |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 8 | 5% |
| Engineering | 8 | 5% |
| Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 5 | 3% |
| Other | 18 | 11% |
| Unknown | 62 | 39% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 April 2021.
All research outputs
#7,210,180
of 23,854,458 outputs
Outputs from Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
#480
of 2,748 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#119,559
of 331,215 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
#10
of 42 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,854,458 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 69th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,748 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 3.8. This one has done well, scoring higher than 82% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 331,215 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 63% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 42 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 76% of its contemporaries.