SUMMER months on Andalucia beaches have started with sun, sand, and rubbish littered across the coastline – at lower numbers than 2025 but still creating new municipal cleaning services.
Shocking amounts of waste were taken out of the ocean in Marbella in just the first month of summer.
Authorities have cited that almost 25 cubic metres of plastic, 3.26 cubic metres of wood, 2 cubic metres of seaweed, and 0.18 cubic metres of organic matter were removed in June alone.
The month of June saw the most amount of floating waste in Marbella at 6.40m, followed by Estepona (6.27m), Benalmadena (4.56m), Mijas (4.52m), Torremolinos (3.04m), Fuengirola (3.02m), Manilva (1.16m), and Casares (0.29m).
READ MORE: Marbella and Nerja among Spain’s ‘Black Flag’ coastal pollution hotspots, activists say
Felix Romero of Costa del Sol’s Association of Municipalities addressed a reduction in trash from previous years, saying it could be “related to greater environmental awareness and better waste management.”
However, Romero also argued that the decreased numbers could simply be because peak summer is only just beginning.
While the annual amount of plastic waste has decreased within the last year by 11%, it still counts as the most common item and is therefore trying to be prevented from reaching the sea.
Data shows that compared to the 2025 figures of the total accumulated volume of waste of 33.36m, it has dropped this year to 29.26m.
Plastic makes up 75% of the type of garbage found littered across one of Spain’s most beloved beaches.
To combat the issue of littered beaches, the Association of Municipalities of Western Costa del Sol and Marbella’s Mayor Angeles Munoz have begun a three-boat service aimed at removing trash from the Andalucian coastline.
The vessels are made up of one coastal and two beach-bound boats that will ‘remove scum’ by picking up plastic, wood, and other debris before reaching the shore.
Operations will be conducted from 8am – 4pm during the week and until 6pm on weekends and holidays due to the expected increase of beachgoers.
The new campaign began in June and is set to run through mid-September to assure that the ‘water quality of our beaches’ are well maintained.
Efforts come after peak events like San Juan resulted in tons of rubbish getting strewn across the beach from Malaga to Nerja, where clean up units picked up nearly 20.800 kilos of trash after the single-day night party.
Now Munoz has indicated that ‘in the event of a larger incident, some of the 14 maritime vessels’ in the operational fleet across the Costa del Sol can be deployed in areas that are needed.
Over €500,000 has been allocated for clean up methods by the intermunicipal body already.
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