EMODnet marine litter data to estimate macro-litter trend on the European coast

Organisation

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the science and knowledge service of the European Commission (EC). The JRC co-chairs with Spain the Marine Litter Technical Group (TG ML) of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), with European Commission Directorate-General for Environment (EC DG ENV) leading the process. The TG ML includes the EC, EU Member States (MS), Regional Sea Conventions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and project leaders. It is one of the technical working groups established under the Common Implementation Strategy adopted by the MSs and the EC for the implementation of the MSFD. The TG ML serves the mutual exchange of information between science and policy to support all activities related to marine litter in line with the MSFD and the EU's global commitments.

The TG ML supports the implementation of the MSFD for Descriptor 10, which targets damage caused by litter, in accordance with the criteria and methodological standards for monitoring programmes for good environmental status (GES) of the seas. 

To this end, TG ML and EMODnet Chemistry have been working together since 2016 in the belief that common criteria and methodological standards for environmental monitoring lead to high-quality databases: the basis of a sound marine policy for monitoring and protection. A turning point was the development of the First pan-European beach litter database in 2018 by EMODnet Chemistry, which is regularly updated with new data. Many other results achieved by the TG ML were built on this cornerstone, such as the EU Marine Beach Litter Baselines, the Marine Litter Threshold Values and the Joint List of Litter Categories for Marine Macrolitter Monitoring. Currently, EMODnet Chemistry manages databases for beach litter, seafloor litter from trawling, and microlitter in sea surface and sediment. It is also working on the development of the database and management system for data on seafloor litter from imagery and videos, one of the marine litter types prioritised by the MSFD.

Challenges faced

In 2025, JRC published a report “European Coastline Macro Litter Trends 2015–2021”. It provides information on the methodology used to analyse coastal litter and shows progress towards the GES. During the reporting period, a 29% decrease in the total volume of macro-litter was recorded on European coasts. Based on data from 253 monitored beaches included in the EMODnet Chemistry Database, there was approximately one-third less litter on European coasts in 2020–2021 than in 2015–2016. By relying on an up-to-date source of standardised and trustworthy information, it was possible to set interim quantitative targets and make progress towards achieving Target 5 on coastline litter of the EU Zero Pollution Action Plan. These results are well described in the publication mentioned above.

EMODnet services used

Based on a commonly agreed methodology, EU Member States have been providing data on the incidence of macro-litter on selected beaches in the EU to EMODnet Chemistry. At the request of TG ML, EMODnet Chemistry gathers these data to produce aggregated, harmonised and validated data collections. These data collections include part of the data contained in EMODnet Chemistry’s First pan-European beach litter database, i.e., the data from the official MSFD monitoring programme. After establishing a baseline period, 2015–2016, and further ongoing data collection, the data were analysed and normalised by the TG ML. The methodology for assessing the step trend was then discussed, agreed and applied to the dataset from 2015 to 2021.

In addition to the Member States under the MSFD, the Regional Sea Conventions, EMODnet partners, external research or monitoring projects, non-governmental organisations, citizens and private companies are other stakeholders that populate the EMODnet Chemistry Marine Litter Database. All data are available for download via EMODnet Chemistry Key Services, depending on the specific release policy of the data originator. 

Visit the EMODnet Product Catalogue to search and download data collections of beach/seafloor macro-litter and floating micro-litter; Visit the EMODnet Chemistry Data Discovery and Access Service by SeaDataNet to search and download all marine litter measurement data.