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Today, almost every beach on every coastline is threatened by human activities. The inadequate recycling and poor management of waste in developing countries has resulted in considerable quantities of plastic contaminating beaches. Though India has long coastline of 5,420 km along the mainland with 43 % of sandy beaches, data on litter accumulation, particularly the plastics, which are one of the most common and persistent pollutants in marine environment, are scanty. The abundance and distribution of plastic litter was quantitatively assessed in four sandy beaches in Mumbai, India, bimonthly from May 2011 to March 2012. Triplicates of 2 × 2 m (4 m(2)) quadrats were sampled in each beach with a total of 72 quadrats. Overall, average abundance of 11.6 items m(-2) (0.25-282.5 items m(-2)) and 3.24 g m(-2) (0.27-15.53 g m(-2)) plastic litter was recorded in Mumbai beaches. Plastic litter accumulation significantly varied temporally and spatially at p = 0.05. Significantly higher plastic litter accumulation was recorded in Juhu beach. Furthermore, the highest abundance by weight was recorded in November and May numerically. More than 80 % of plastic particles were within the size range of 5-100 mm both by number and weight. Moreover, coloured plastics were predominant with 67 % by number of items and 51 % by weight. Probably, the intense use of beaches for recreation, tourism, and religious activities has increased the potential for plastic contamination in urban beaches in Mumbai.

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Organochlorines (OCs) such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were analysed in plastic pellets collected from four beaches of Mumbai coast bimonthly from May 2011 to March 2012. A total of 72 pools of pellets were extracted and analysed by gas chromatograph equipped with a Ni(63) electron capture detector (ECD). The median concentrations of seven ΣPCBs and 16 ΣOCPs were 37.08 and 104.90 ng g(-1) (n = 72), respectively. PCB-28 was recorded at the highest concentration with a mean of 17.58 ± 2.77 ng g(-1) among the seven PCBs studied, followed by PCB-52 and PCB-101. Bimonthly variation was significant for ΣPCBs. The ΣPCB concentration in November was at par with that of September and was significantly higher than those of the other months (p < 0.05) with an increasing trend during the monsoon period. Among the OCPs, γ-HCH recorded the highest concentration with a mean of 33.88 ± 5.97 ng g(-1) followed by heptachlor and α-HCH. The ΣOCPs and ΣHCHs are not significantly varied among the months and sites. However, significant variation was observed for ΣDDTs among the months and sites (p < 0.05). The significantly higher concentration of ΣDDT (46.55 ± 12.23 ng g(-1)) was found in January than in the other months while it was intermediate in November. The study confirmed that plastic pellets are a trap for various cyclodine compounds in addition to PCB, HCH and DDT. Further, pellets can be used to study the temporal variability for a range of organic micropollutants.