Waste items found along beaches in the U.S. 2021

Approximately three million waste items were collected in the United States during the 2021 International Coastal Cleanup. Cigarette butts topped the list of most common waste items found, with more 500,000 collected. Food wrappers were the second most collected waste items, followed by plastic bottle caps.

The U.S. is one of the biggest generators of plastic waste worldwide, with the country's coastal population producing millions of tons of mismanaged plastic waste every year through littering and illegal dumping. More often that not this waste ends up in oceans, causing harm to marine environments.