Panel 1
Tomaso Fortibuoni, Francesca Ronchi, Cecilia Silvestri
Any solid material, manufactured or processed by humans, abandoned or lost in the marine and coastal environment or that reaches the sea in any way is defined as marine litter. Italy, with Legislative Decree No. 190/2010 transposing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, has been conducting an intensive marine litter monitoring program since 2015, including beach litter. Twice a year, in spring and autumn, the coastal Regional Environmental Protection Agencies (ARPA) carry out monitoring of solid waste present in sample areas of 69 reference beaches along the national coastline. To assess the cleanliness of the beaches based on the density of litter present in the monitored sample areas, the Clean Coast Index (CCI) was calculated, an indicator developed and applied internationally.
In 2023, the CCI was calculated for 69 beaches both in spring and autumn. In spring, 80% of the monitored beaches were clean or very clean compared to 12% of dirty or very dirty beaches. In autumn, 77% of the beaches were clean or very clean, while 12% were dirty or very dirty. The rest of the beaches were fairly clean. Compared to the previous year, the percentage of clean or very clean beaches increased in autumn (75% in 2022), while in spring it remained the same.
The Clean Coast Index (CCI) allows beaches to be classified into 5 categories based on the density of litter present in the monitored beach sections:
- very clean beach;
- clean beach;
- fairly clean beach;
- dirty beach;
- very dirty beach.
The index was calculated with data collected during monitoring activities conducted according to a methodology defined at the European level within the Marine Strategy (MSFD Technical Group on Marine Litter 2023). The monitoring of beach litter is carried out by the National System for Environmental Protection (SNPA) with the technical and scientific coordination of the Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA). The Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE) is the competent authority that ensures the coordination of activities provided for in the implementation of the Marine Strategy.
The index is displayed using symbols of different colors, from green to red, placed on a map corresponding to the monitored coastal sections. A representation of the percentage of monitored beaches falling into the different categories by subregion (Adriatic, Ionian and Central Mediterranean, Western Mediterranean) is also provided.
The index reflects the perception that users have of the cleanliness of the beaches (Alkalay et al. 2007; Cruz et al. 2020). It therefore represents a tool to assess the state of Italian beaches in terms of litter density. It also allows for a simple verification of any reduction in beach litter, identifiable with an increase in the percentage of clean and very clean beaches compared to previous years.
- Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 establishing a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy (Marine Strategy Framework Directive).
- Legislative Decree 13 October 2010, No. 190. Implementation of Directive 2008/56/EC establishing a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy.
- Decree 11 February 2015. Determination of indicators associated with environmental targets and monitoring programs, prepared pursuant to Articles 10, paragraph 1, and 11, paragraph 1, of Legislative Decree No. 190/2010.
Panel 2
Alkalay R., Pasternak G., Zask A. (2007). Clean-coast index-A new approach for beach cleanliness assessment. Ocean and Coastal Management. 50, 352–362.
Cruz C.J., Muñoz-Perez J.J., Carrasco-Braganza M., Poullet P., Lopez-Garcia P., Contreras A., and Silva R. (2020). Beach cleaning costs. Ocean & Coastal Management, 188: 105118. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0964569120300284.
MSFD Technical Group on Marine Litter, Guidance on the Monitoring of Marine Litter in European Seas An update to improve the harmonised monitoring of marine litter under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, EUR 31539 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2023, ISBN 978-92-68-04093-5, doi:10.2760/59137, JRC133594.
Rangel-Buitrago N., Mendoza A. V., Gracia C A., Mantilla-Barbosa E., Arana V.A., Trilleras J., and Arroyo-Olarte H. (2019). Litter impacts on cleanliness and environmental status of Atlantico department beaches, Colombian Caribbean coast. Ocean & Coastal Management, 179: 104835. Elsevier. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0964569119301887.
Data quality assessment
SNPA (National System for Environmental Protection)
http://www.db-strategiamarina.isprambiente.it/app/#/datiMonitoraggio20182023
https://www.emodnet-chemistry.eu/marinelitter
National
2018-2023
Indicator assessment
The index is calculated as the product of the density (items/m²) of litter larger than 2.5 cm found in a known area of the beach and a constant K, which is conventionally assigned the value 20 (Alkalay et al. 2007). While in its original formulation the CCI was calculated only considering plastic litter (Alkalay et al. 2007), in this context the formulation proposed by Rangel-Buitrago et al. (2019) was adopted, which considers the sum of all litter, not just plastic, in the numerator.
CCI = (total litter/monitored area) * 20
The numerical index is then coded as follows:
- very clean beach (CCI: = 0–2);
- clean beach (CCI = 2–5);
- fairly clean beach (CCI = 5–10);
- dirty beach (CCI = 10–20);
- very dirty beach (CCI > 20).
Litter monitoring is carried out twice a year (spring and autumn).
At the national level, most of the monitored beaches were very clean (64% in spring and 61% in autumn) or clean (16% in both spring and autumn), and the percentage of dirty or very dirty beaches was low in both seasons (12%). In the Ionian and Central Mediterranean subregion, all beaches were very clean or clean in both seasons. The Adriatic, on the other hand, has the highest percentages of dirty or very dirty beaches (21% in both seasons), although more than half of the beaches were clean or very clean (67% in both seasons). In the Western Mediterranean subregion, only 1 beach was very dirty in spring and autumn, while the dirty beaches were 2 in both seasons. In spring, 80% of the beaches were clean or very clean, compared to 73% in autumn.
In 2023, there was no substantial change in the percentages of very clean and clean beaches compared to previous years (80% in spring and 77% in autumn, compared to the average of 77% and 76% for the period 2018-2022, respectively). The percentage of dirty or very dirty beaches also did not change significantly compared to previous years, standing at 12% in both seasons (it was on average 12.4% in spring and 11.4% in autumn in the years 2018-2022). Note that in 2020 the percentage of very clean and clean beaches reached the highest value of the available historical series (89% in spring), a period when many anthropogenic activities were suspended or reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown (Figure 4).
Data
Abstract CCI 2023
Figure 1: Subdivision in percentage terms of the different beach categories classified according to the Clean Coast Index in the Adriatic subregion (2023)
ISPRA processing on ARPA data
Figure 2: Subdivision in percentage terms of the different beach categories classified according to the Clean Coast Index in the Ionian and Central Mediterranean sub-region (2023)
ISPRA processing on ARPA data
Figure 3: Percentage splits of the different beach categories classified according to the Clean Coast Index in the Western Mediterranean subregion (2023)
ISPRA processing on ARPA data
Figure 4: Percentage of very clean and clean beaches (green lines) and dirty and very dirty (red lines)
ISPRA processing on ARPA data
The dotted lines are related to spring, the lines continue to autumn
In 2023, in spring and autumn in the Adriatic, 67% of the monitored beaches were clean or very clean (with a higher percentage of very clean beaches in autumn compared to spring), while 21% were classified as dirty or very dirty (Figure 1). In the Ionian and Central Mediterranean subregion, in spring all beaches (100%) were very clean, while in autumn these represented a lower percentage (87%) but the remaining 13% of the beaches were still clean (Figure 2). Finally, in the Western Mediterranean in spring, 80% of the beaches were clean or very clean, in autumn 73%; dirty or very dirty beaches were 10% in both seasons (Figure 3). The remaining portion of beaches in each subregion was fairly clean.
The situation of Italian beaches in 2023 appears similar to what was observed in 2022, with high percentages of clean and very clean beaches and low percentages of dirty or very dirty beaches.