Baseline marine litter abundance and distribution on Saint Martin Island, Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh

A comparative study of indexes used for litter pollution assessment in urban and public environments

“…Clean cast index is a tool for evaluating the status of pollution in beaches, which is based on the evaluation of the number of litter per surface unit [ 23 ]. To use this index, a specific length from the beach is evaluated by the researcher and the number of litter is counted [ 24 ]. Considering that the number of litter should be counted based on the surface unit, it will be important to determine the width of the studied area.…”

“…Considering that the number of litter should be counted based on the surface unit, it will be important to determine the width of the studied area. In some studies, it has been suggested that the rearmost edge of the water in tidal changes to the point where the beach is limited by a natural barrier such as rocks or trees or a anthropogenic barrier such as buildings, is considered as the width of the study [ 11 , 24 ]. The composition of litter on the beaches is different according to the cultural situation of each region and the consumption pattern of visitors.…”

“…The composition of litter on the beaches is different according to the cultural situation of each region and the consumption pattern of visitors. However, there is a widely used guide in the classification of beach litter, known as “OSPAR” [ 24 ]. This guideline has classified beach litter in the groups as shown in Table 1 .…”

DataSheet_1.pdf

“…The Plastic Abundance Index (PAI) is a valuable tool for the evaluation of plastic pollution (e.g., Rangel-Buitrago et al, 2021;Al Nahian et al, 2022;Bekova, 2023;Perumal et al, 2023;Sandaruwan et al, 2023;Ilechukwu et al, 2024;Mghili et al, 2024). The PAI was introduced to assess the presence of plastic on beaches by comparing the amount of plastic to the total litter collected (Rangel-Buitrago et al, 2021).…”