Abstract
The numbers of beach litter of several consumer goods have been counted every month from 2005 to 2007 on the 8 beaches in Tottori located in the lower courses of the ocean current of the sea of East Asia. The litter is few in number from late winter to early summer, whereas the number increases from summer to early winter. PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles for soft drink and mineral water are numerous items. The small size bottles are dominant in the PET originated from Japan and China, while large size bottles are dominant in the PET from Korea and Russia. The consumer goods from Japan increase in the seasons when the water level of rivers rapidly elevates. This result suggests that the consumer goods flow out via river. In fact most of the items are originated from Japan in summer season. Interestingly the monthly change of small size PET bottles is similar to that of surfactant bottles which are used inside of house. This fact suggests that most of the PET bottles are thrown away together with surfactant bottles.
