“Researchers surveyed inland, riverine, and coastal habitats across six metropolitan regions across Australia including Hobart in Tasmania, Newcastle in New South Wales, Perth in Western Australia, Port Augusta in South Australia, Sunshine Coast in Queensland, and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

Dr Denise Hardesty, senior research scientist from CSIRO and co-author on the study, said that with up to 53 million metric tonnes of plastic waste estimated to enter the aquatic ecosystems by 2030, it was ‘heartening to see a significant decrease in plastic pollution’ on Australian beaches and coasts.

‘Three quarters of the rubbish we find on our beaches is plastic, and flexible plastics such as food packaging are the most harmful to wildlife,’ said Dr Hardesty. ‘Along with a 39% reduction in plastic waste in coastal areas, we also saw a 16% increase in areas we surveyed with no plastic debris at all.'”

From Oceanographic Magazine.