Monitoring of pellets and mesoplastic fragments on Dutch beaches - update 2023

The median results in 2023 based at four locations, are: pellets: 705 per 100 m beach length and mesoplastic fragments: 235 per 100 m beach length. The average weight per pellet is 27.2 mg, and per mesoplastic fragment 53.2 mg. Monitoring of mesoplastic fragments shows a dominance of hard mesoplastic fragments. This may be caused their relatively high weight, which may make them less susceptible to wind. We first established in the method report that there are strong relationships between the number and weight of both pellets and mesoplastic fragments.