Is the weight of plastic litter correlated with vegetal wrack? A case study from a Central Italian beach

Highlights: • Our findings indicate a high plastic contamination on sandy beaches. • Plastics show a large variability in size, color and shape. • In egagropiles transparent fibers are the most abundant items. • Plastic weight is positively correlated to vegetal wrack weight. This study analyzes the occurrence and distribution of plastic litter and the entrapment of plastic by wrack beached on a natural reserve. Large microplastics (2.5 - 5 mm) were the most abundant plastic size category detected. The main color and shape were white and fragment, respectively. The plastics entrapped by egagropiles were mainly transparent fibers. We analyzed the correlation between the weights of plastic litter and vegetal wrack in two transects, selected for their different environmental characteristics. The transect closer to a breakwater showed a significant positive correlation between the weights of plastics and wrack, while the other transect suggested a casual pattern of plastic deposition on the beach. Further research is suggested to focus on the role of breakwaters in altering marine currents and enhancing plastic beaching.