What does the 11% EPS/XPS figure on Baltic beaches measure?

HELCOM's 11% is the item-count share of EPS/XPS at six beaches. Weight was not reported for that survey.

4 December 2021Updated 23 September 2026

Short answer

HELCOM's 2019 report classed 11% of plastic litter items at six reference beaches surveyed in 2018 as EPS/XPS. This is an item-count share; weight was not reported for those beach samples. Do not pair it with a weight share from a separate river study. Measure your own waste by count and weight separately.

HELCOM's 2019 report found that EPS/XPS made up 11% of plastic litter items at six reference beaches in 2018. Item weight was not reported. The figure does not represent all Baltic litter or business waste.

The report's roughly 1% by weight and 14% by count refer to a separate river-transport study, not a second measure of those beaches. At your dock, log broken boxes, recovered fragments and discarded material over a defined period.

State the period, sample and unit when reporting results. Do not present count and weight shares from different samples as one finding.