Naslov
Accumulation of Plastic Waste in Seagrass Banquettes

Autori
Pikelj, Kristina

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
Book of abstracts Beyond plastic Croatia / - Split : SUNCE, 2022, 15-15

Skup
Interdiscilinary Conference on ON Waste Management Priorities – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Mjesto i datum
Split, Hrvatska, 15.09.2022. - 16.09.2022

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Domaća recenzija

Ključne riječi
plaža Sakarun, valovi juga, sekundarni izvor plastike u moru
(Sakarun beach, southern waves, secondary sources of marine plastic)

Sažetak
Plastic marine litter is a worldwide problem in environmental protection of today. Due to its accumulation on the coasts, beaches, as the most interesting coastal environment for humans, represent the places where the scale of plastic waste load is most visible. Beaches and other parts of the coast oriented to the southern waves in Croatia are particularly susceptible to a significant accumulation of plastic. An example of such a beach is Sakarun on Dugi otok. This pebble beach is only partially covered with sand, which, from a tourist point of view, is its most valuable part. The beach currently shows a significant loss of sand, which is attributed to the long-term practice of permanent removal of significant deposits (so-called banquets) of Posidonia oceanica seagrass plant remains. Banquets are common throughout the Mediterranean coast, while in Croatia their occurrence is less common. The emergence of the banquet is related to the period of weakening of the effect of the waves on the coast during the calm of the storms. Such events contribute to a significant accumulation of plastic (and other) waste on the beaches. Given that they are compactly layered structures, banquettes often contain pieces of waste in their composition, which in their shape and hydraulic behavior resemble fallen leaves of sea grass. These are usually flat objects, such as plastic bags, discoidal and ribbon pieces of plastic, shoe soles, etc. Banks, in addition to incorporating plastic waste, form a natural trap for sediment and cover sediment deposited on the beach, and both of these mechanisms reduce beach erosion. For this reason, recent management measures for seaweed banquets in the Mediterranean are aimed at leaving a significant part of the banquets on the beaches. In this way, plastic waste remains trapped in them and eventually becomes a secondary source of plastic waste. The scale of the mentioned processes needs to be further investigated in the future.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Geologija, Interdisciplinarne prirodne znanosti

POVEZANOST RADA