Marine Litter:Post-Flood Nuisance for Chennai Beaches

Anthropogenic litter on the coastal beaches, sea surface and seabed has increased in the recent decades across global oceans¹. Also, massive plastic production and usage have accumulated plastic waste of 4.8-12.7 million metric tonnes (MMT) annually², posing a serious threat to marine ecosystem and beach aesthetics³. Recently, production and usage of plastic in India have increased manifold. Nearly 8 million tonnes of plastic products is being used annually, generating about 1.5 million tonnes of plastic waste with less than a quarter of it being collected and treated⁴. Marine litter originating from untreated urban sewage, tourism, fishing, ports and other activities usually finds its way to the coast through rivers, creeks and waterways. Hence, it becomes necessary to quantify the amount of solid waste that contributes towards polluting the coastal environment. Usually, after a spell of heavy rains, flooding of waterways causes huge amounts of garbage to pile up along the coastline. As a part of the coastal clean up programme under the aegis of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) campaign, an attempt was made to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the litter reaching Chennai beaches, so that the on-going management practices can be suitably adapted.