Characterization of solid waste from the beaches of Itapuã, Stella Maris and Flamengo in Salvador/Bahia/Brazil

The disposal of solid waste in the sand strips of the beaches tends to cause environmental, social, economic and public security damages. This can lead to risks of contamination by infectious diseases and a demotivating look at the natural wealth of the marine environment. In this way, this work aimed to characterize the solid residues of the beaches of Itapuã, Stella Maris and Praia of Flamengo, aiming to provide subsidies for Environmental Education campaigns, in order to sensitize the population. This research is of qualitative and quantitative nature, being also exploratory and of field. The survey results indicated that the most representative classes found on the three study beaches were plastic and wood, followed by non-recyclable waste. The cigarette filters were classified as not recycled and were expressive in numbers of the category in quantity in the three beaches. In this way, the significant amount of solid waste on Itapuã beach can be attributed to its geographical location with easy accessibility to its regulars and traders, in addition to the quality of the water for bathing, low level of turbidity of the waters and small height of waves.