Drone-based beach litter monitoring

Quarterly drone surveys and image classification replaced manual transect counts on 12 beaches, producing comparable litter density maps at a fraction of the cost.

How it was done

1. 01ProtocolA flight and image protocol was agreed with the coastal authority.
2. 02SurveysQuarterly flights over 12 beaches, images classified with a trained model.
3. 03MapsLitter density maps are published as open data after each survey.

Results achieved

• Survey cost per beach fell by two thirds.
• Density maps are now used to plan clean-up priorities.

Measurable outputs

Climate relevance

Comparable density maps show where litter accumulates after storms, which is what coastal authorities need as extreme weather becomes more frequent. Publishing them as open data lets clean-up and restoration effort go where it protects habitat best.

Conditions for replication

Needs airspace permission for the survey beaches, a flight and image protocol agreed with the coastal authority, and enough labelled images to train the classifier on local litter types. Comparability depends on flying the same protocol every time.

Images