Back-shore vegetation as trap for marine plastic pollution, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Dar es Salaam in Tanzania is challenged by extensive plastic pollution, which accumulate at the local beaches. This study investigates abundance, type and spatial distribution of plastic litter (>2 cm) on five beaches in Dar es Salaam. Each studied beach consisted of an unvegetated zone closest to the sea and a vegetated back-shore zone. A total of 5098 beached plastic items were collected, corresponding to 3.4 ± 2.6 items m^-2 in the unvegetated zone and 10.9 ± 7.2 items m^-2 in the vegetated back-shore. The results show that significantly more plastic litter occurs in the vegetated zone of the beach compared to the unvegetated zone. Consequently, this study suggests that beach litter monitoring programmes should include the vegetated back-shore to more accurately account for the level of beach plastic pollution.