This litter collected at Devil’s Punchbowl on the Oregon coast in December 2012 shows a mix of bottle tops, fishing gear and plastic fragments. Analysis of larger items collected by volunteers from 2017 to 2021 shows that beaches have “sticky zones” where both organic material and litter tends to accumulate.

Beach litter at Discovery Park in Seattle includes a plastic shotgun wad, pieces of glass (green), a metal bottle cap (right foreground) and a piece of brick (far right). Volunteers’ surveys showed that non-plastic items like metal, glass and cement are more common on Puget Sound beaches than on the outer coast. Researchers say this suggests most of the litter in Puget Sound is generated locally.

This piece of glass covered in barnacles was collected in the “wrack zone,” the high tide line where kelp accumulates, at Puget Sound’s Illahee Beach in 2019. Volunteers’ beach surveys confirm that litter also tends to accumulate on this part of the beach.

These pieces of twine were collected in 2014 on Hobuck Beach on the Washington coast. Analysis of volunteer surveys from 2017 to 2021 shows that beaches have “sticky zones” where both organic material and litter tends to accumulate.

This plastic bottle covered in marine life was found in December 2014 on Sanctuary Beach in Washington.