Research on Beachlitter Amount, Composition and Sources on Georgia Black Sea Coast

This paper presents the researches on the marine litter conducted on the Georgian Black Sea coast. The study was carried out in accordance with the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and the OSPAR Convention requirements. For research purposes, six beach sections were selected based on a carefully developed strategy. During the monitoring we took into the consideration the varying frequencies of the waste collection and management activities conducted by the local municipal services across the selected beaches. The study was dedicated to determine the categories of the beach litter, to analyze the amount and the composition of waste on the beaches, to assesse the beach cleanliness using the Clean Coast Index (CCI), and to identify the sources of marine litter affecting the coastal areas. By the research results plastic waste constitutes the majority of beach litter, with its share ranging from 73% to 98% across different beaches, averaging 90.5%. The non-plastic waste accounted for 9.75% of the total waste, with metal waste being the most common, averaging 3.4%. Presented study is based on the results of the marine litter researches conducted since 2015 within the various scientific grant projects (EMBLAS II, EMBLAS III, EMBLAS Plus, RedMarLitter and BRIDGE BS.