Food- and beverage-related plastics represent the dominant items of marine litter across seven continents, nine ocean systems, 13 regional seas and 112 countries, accounting for 86 per cent of the global population.
Food and beverage plastics dominate shoreline debris globally, ranking among the top three most abundant usage types in 93 per cent of countries, followed by plastic bags (39 per cent) and cigarettes (38 per cent) according to a study published in the journal One Earth on May 20, 2026.
Specifically, plastic food packaging, caps/lids, and plastic bottles were among the top-ranked individual items in over half of all countries.
Researchers led by Max Richard Kelly at the University of Plymouth in the UK developed a rank-based approach combining over 5,300 shoreline surveys and Monte Carlo analysis to present a confidence-weighted global assessment of marine litter.
When the data was aggregated across countries, 22 plastic item types were recorded among the top three most prevalent items. Food packaging represented the dominant type of litter, recorded as a top-three-ranked item in 53 per cent of the 112 countries and in 45 per cent of the 355 individual studies. Caps/lids were the second most prevalent item (51 per cent of countries and 38 per cent of studies), followed by plastic bottles (51 per cent of countries and 34 per cent of studies), plastic bags (40 per cent of countries and 26 per cent of studies), cigarettes (38 per cent of countries and 35 per cent of studies), and fishing and shipping gear (34 per cent of countries and 31 per cent of studies).
The analysis showed that food and beverage plastics, plastic bags, and cigarettes dominate global shorelines with food and beverage plastics accounting for the top three pollutants in 93 per cent of studied countries. This included the world’s five most populated countries: India, China, the US, Indonesia and Pakistan.
The study identifies for the first time the most abundant debris categories at national, regional, and global scales, indicating where to prioritise interventions and which specific item types to focus on. The research provides critical evidence to guide industry and policy on specific points of focus needed to address plastic pollution.
“The research indicates actions on food and beverage related plastics are a key priority across 93 per cent of nations worldwide,” said Richard Charles Thompson, founder and head of the University of Plymouth’s International Marine Litter Research Unit and a co-author of the study.
Susan Jobling, Director of the Partnership for Plastics in Indonesian Societies (PISCES) project and another co-author, said the study highlighted that plastic pollution cannot be solved by waste management alone. Across very different national contexts, including Indonesia, the same short-lived food and beverage plastics repeatedly dominate shoreline pollution. The PISCES project showed that upstream solutions — reduction, reuse, better packaging design and stronger policy — are essential if we are to prevent plastic pollution at the source.
The study is part of the £3.8 million PISCES project, an international initiative led by Brunel University and funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, which aims to create ‘hope spots’ in Indonesia’s battle against plastic waste.
The results reinforce the direct link between plastic production volumes and environmental pollution. The global consistency of shoreline debris according to usage type provides the critical evidence needed to guide targeted interventions under the emerging UN Global Plastics Treaty and national-level action plans, the study said.
The findings provide direct evidence of items that are prevalent as litter in the environment and could therefore be proposed for inclusion in the treaty’s annexes of “problematic and avoidable plastic products”.
The global dominance of food and beverage plastics emphasises the need for upstream measures, including production reduction strategies aimed at high-production, single-use items. By 2060, the total accumulation of plastic in the ocean is projected to reach 145 million metric tons.
It is clear that waste management alone cannot address the challenge of plastic pollution, and urgent measures are needed to reduce the quantity of plastics produced. Those measures could, for example, include ensuring that only plastics which bring essential benefits to society are produced.