We report observations of negatively buoyant plastics washed up on the shores of a beach in southwest England in association with deposits of kelp. Items retrieved included polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle fragments, polyvinyl chloride toys, electrical casings, construction plastics, polycarbonate goggles, carcass tags, pot rubber, fishing float fragments and PET textiles, with an upper estimate of 24 t of plastic deposited during a single kelp beaching event. It appears that after kelp becomes detached from the bed during strong winds or tides or through senescence, biological debris becomes associated with or acts to transport benthic plastic landwards through entrainment, entanglement and rafting and, sometimes, attachment to the holdfast. Observations provide evidence of significant local and regional ecological transportation of plastics in temperate coastal environments that is not driven directly or solely by buoyancy, and afford a convenient, non-invasive insight into the makeup of plastic that is encountered in the benthic environment.

我们报告了在英格兰西南部海滩海岸上冲刷负浮力塑料与海藻沉积物的观察结果。取回的物品包括聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯 (PET) 瓶碎片、聚氯乙烯玩具、电气外壳、建筑塑料、聚碳酸酯护目镜、尸体标签、锅橡胶、钓鱼浮标碎片和 PET 纺织品，估计在单个过程中沉积了 24 吨塑料。海带搁浅事件。似乎在强风或潮汐或衰老过程中海带从海床脱离后，生物碎片通过夹带、缠结和漂流，有时还会附着在固定物上，与底栖塑料相关或起到将底栖塑料运送到陆地的作用。