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The monitoring of marine macrolitter requires an unambiguous identification of its identity, enabled through an agreed list of litter categories. The Joint List of Litter Categories for Macrolitter Monitoring was prepared by the MSFD Technical Group on Marine Litter (MSFD TG ML), in close collaboration with EU Member States and the Regional Sea Conventions. The list was adopted by the MSFD Coordination Group (November 2019). It provides a comprehensive list of litter types, which occur in the coastal and marine environment. This comprehensive list can be used to enable comparable monitoring of marine litter across the European Seas and beyond, as well as across different compartments of the marine environment.


Photo examples for Litter Categories are provided in the Online Photo Catalogue of the Joint List of Litter Categories

Please find here the J-List of litter types for download. It is strongly recommended to use the J-List for future litter monitoring projects and adapt existing lists to include the items on the J-List, in order to enable the comparable assessment of the effectiveness of measures implemented to reduce litter pollution.

Download J-code List

French version in preparation/Version française en voie de préparation


Please find here the complete hierarchical list table for download. This list provides also intermediate category aggregation levels, which should not be used for future monitoring, but can be helpful to compare against previous datasets.

Download Hierarchical List

French version in preparation/Version française en voie de préparation