Image of the Day: What We’ve Dumped

ABOVE: A selection of trash collected in the study
CAITLIN WESSEL

Pieces of plastic top the list of trash accumulating on coasts, researchers reported in Marine Pollution Bulletin on December 18. For two years, scientists from Dauphin Island Sea Lab and the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve kept an account of garbage that washed up at 12 shoreline sites on barrier islands along the US Gulf Coast. Most of it was plastic, including bottles, bottle caps, and straws. The researchers also noticed that more trash floated to shore during spring and summer, likely because that’s when people are spending more time outside.