Developing a Citizen Science Approach to Monitor Stranded Marine Plastics on a Remote Small Island in Indonesia

Abstract

Marine plastics stranded on the coastlines of remote small islands threaten both the ecological integrity of local ecosystems and communities’ well-being. However, despite the growing quantities of stranded plastics in these locations, the remote nature of these sites renders monitoring and intervention efforts difficult to undertake. Within this context, we developed a citizen science approach to monitor stranded marine plastics in collaboration with villagers living on a remote small island in Indonesia. This study reports the co-development and application of an approach that can be used and maintained independently by remote coastal communities. In the monitoring stage, the participants quantified both the weight and composition of stranded marine debris on a beach located in their village for a 4-week period from late May to mid-June 2021. The results revealed that the weekly accumulation of stranded marine debris on the beach was 3.97 kg/m², with 58% categorized as plastics. The stranded plastics sampled in this study were sorted and collected for recycling, estimated to provide a total economic value of 91,700 Indonesian Rupiahs (USD 5.84), or equivalent to 12.77% of the average monthly household income in the area. The citizen science activities indicated that the local villagers were capable of operating the designed monitoring system effectively, with the added benefits of supplementary earnings from recycling. An independently operated monitoring approach combined with collection efforts for recyclable items is important as remote islands have to manage increasing quantities of stranded marine debris despite the lack of an adequate local waste management system.