TP1 Non-Point Source Pollution and TMDLs
Tuesday, 15 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 6:30 PM in Exhibit Hall

(CAR-1116-477090) Food Wrappers Dominate Pollution on an Estuary Beach in Nassau County.

Carman, S¹, Flynn, K¹, ¹ Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, USA

ABSTRACT- Pollution, especially that of the waters and beaches of Long Island, is a constant problem; but the source is often not known. To evaluate this, 12 students went to a small beach on the South Shore of Long Island, Manhasset Bay, in April 2004 and collected and sorted the shoreline trash. Four groups of three students each were assigned stretches of approximately 40 meters of shoreline. Group 1 was at the pedestrian entrance to the beach, and each subsequent group was progressively farther from the entrance. Each group had a standard score sheet containing categories of trash commonly found on Long Island beaches, including plastic bags, food wrappers, Styrofoam, etc. The groups worked for one hour with two students collecting and identifying trash and one student recording the data. Total number of items in each trash category was tabulated and indicated an abundance of food wrappers and plastic bags, equaling 42 and 31 % of the total trash items, respectively. Number of trash items for each group was also tabulated and statistical analysis indicated significant differences in the numbers of different trash items collected by the different groups. Both total trash and number of food wrappers decreased with increasing distance from the shore entrance: group 1 found 21 % more food wrappers than group 2 and 274 and 739 % more than groups 3 and 4, respectively. These data indicate that food wrappers are the predominant type of beach trash, and they further suggest that most trash on the shore is coming from passing cars on the roadway and not washing in from the bay.

Key words: Estuary, Pollution