Data on marine litter is crucial to guide waste management but is scarce in third-world countries such as South Africa. We established the first baseline measurement of litter accumulation on two beaches differing in public access in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, the poorest province in South Africa. Four 10-day surveys were conducted on each beach between June 2019 and June 2020. Results revealed that most of the litter (95.7%) was of South African origin and likely came from local land-based sources (e.g., beachgoers or a local river). Daily accumulation rates at the study sites ranged between 24.58 and 86.54 items·100 m-1·day-1, an order of magnitude lower than rates from other cities in Africa. However, like elsewhere, plastic (including foam) made up the bulk (74.2%) of litter with food packaging contributing a large portion of this. These findings indicate that local interventions are warranted to reduce litter in Port Elizabeth.

中文翻译：

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南非伊丽莎白港海洋垃圾的第一个基线估计。

关于海洋垃圾的数据对于指导废物管理至关重要，但在南非等第三世界国家却很少。我们在南非最贫困的东开普省伊丽莎白港的两个公共通道不同的海滩上建立了垃圾堆积的第一个基线测量。2019 年 6 月至 2020 年 6 月期间，在每个海滩上进行了四次为期 10 天的调查。结果显示，大部分垃圾 (95.7%) 来自南非，可能来自当地陆地来源（例如，海滩游客或当地河流）。研究地点的日累积率介于 24.58 至 86.54 项·100 m-1·day-1 之间，比非洲其他城市的比率低一个数量级。然而，与其他地方一样，塑料（包括泡沫）占垃圾的大部分 (74.2%)，其中食品包装占了很大一部分。