Plastics dominate coastal cleanup report

Plastics, for the first time ever, take all the 10 spots in a listing of top items collected during a well-known annual coastal cleanup effort.

Ocean Conservancy is out with its annual top 10 list of most items collected during its 2017 International Coastal Cleanup.

"Over the years, we have seen plastics creeping into the top-10 list, displacing items like rope, beverage cans and paper bags. But this is the first year that all 10 of the top-10 items collected are made of plastic," said Nicholas Mallos, director of the environmental group's Trash Free Seas program, in a statement.

During the past few years, ocean plastics has become a hot-button issue in the plastics industry and around the world as people are becoming more and more aware.

The topic is driving bans of certain plastic items, such as straws and bags, in certain U.S. cities and around the world. Most of ocean-bound plastics enter the water from several countries in Asia but the matter is not limited to that region.

Volunteers around the world log each item they collect from beaches and waterways during the clean-up program. Nearly 800,000 volunteers took part last year, collecting more than 20 million pounds of waste.

The top item is one that some people might not associate with plastics — cigarette butts, which chiefly consist of cellulose acetate fibers.

Other plastic products topping the list, in order, are: food wrappers, beverage bottles, bottle caps and grocery bags.

Rounding out the top 10 are: other plastic bags, straws and stirrers, rigid takeout containers, lids and expanded polystyrene takeout containers.

Ocean Conservancy said data collection efforts set its clean-up program apart from other similar efforts.

"Data are critically needed if we are to find meaningful solutions to the ocean plastic crisis," said George Leonard, the group's chief scientist, in a statement.

The next International Coastal Cleanup is scheduled for Sept. 15. Volunteers in more than 100 countries participated last year, the group said.