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烟头是全球海滩上最常见的垃圾。厄瓜多尔滨海理工大学（ESPOL）10 月 23 日经 Phys.org 发布新闻稿，介绍了发表在期刊 Ocean & Coastal Management 上的一项研究：由当地 Amiguitos del Océano 基金会牵头、与国内外学术机构合作，在厄瓜多尔海滨社区 Ayangue 让 7–12 岁的儿童担任“小科学家”。他们每月在低潮时沿固定区域（共 1,500 平方米）收集并统计烟头，2023 至 2024 年间沙中烟头减少了 53.2%。配套措施包括用回收 PVC 材料制成的烟头收集器（18 个月收集 1,198 个烟头），以及用海滩垃圾换取租借浮潜用具、球类的“交换点”（8 次活动收集 941 个烟头和约 98 公斤其他垃圾）。社区议会提供物资并通过官方渠道宣传成果，85.7% 的孩子把所学告诉了家人朋友。作者也承认，项目在学术期刊上的发表仍是薄弱环节。全项目两年内共阻止 6,821 个烟头流入海洋。文章按“问题—应对—局限”展开，阅读时可留意 so that、if、but 如何说明目的、条件和转折，以及 suggests、may 如何为结论设定边界。

正文

On many beaches, the most common piece of rubbish is not a plastic bottle or a bag. It is a cigarette butt. In one small coastal community in Ecuador, children have spent two years counting these butts, and a new study suggests their work helped to cut the number found on the sand by more than half.

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在许多海滩上，最常见的垃圾不是塑料瓶或塑料袋，而是烟头。在厄瓜多尔的一个小型海滨社区，孩子们花了两年时间统计这些烟头。一项新研究表明，他们的工作帮助沙滩上发现的烟头数量减少了一半以上。

The problem is bigger than it looks. About 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are thrown away around the world every year, and for three decades they have been the most common litter on beaches. Most of a butt is made of a kind of plastic that does not break down naturally. It can also hold more than 7,000 harmful chemicals, such as nicotine and heavy metals, which may pass into sea animals and then up the food chain.

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这个问题比看上去更严重。全世界每年约有 4.5 万亿个烟头被丢弃，三十年来它们一直是海滩上最常见的垃圾。烟头的大部分由一种不会自然分解的塑料制成。它还可能含有 7,000 多种有害化学物质，例如尼古丁和重金属，这些物质可能进入海洋动物体内，再沿食物链向上传递。

The project took place in Ayangue, a community that has legal control over its own land and sea resources. It was led by a local group called the Amiguitos del Océano Foundation, working with universities in Ecuador and abroad. The results were published in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management and reported on October 23 by Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, an Ecuadorian university.

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该项目在 Ayangue 开展，这个社区对自己的土地和海洋资源拥有法定管理权。项目由当地组织 Amiguitos del Océano 基金会牵头，并与厄瓜多尔国内外的大学合作。研究结果发表在期刊《Ocean & Coastal Management》上，厄瓜多尔的滨海理工大学（Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral）于 10 月 23 日对此进行了报道。

Children aged 7 to 12 did much more than pick up rubbish. Every month, at low tide, they collected butts from the same marked areas of beach, covering 1,500 square meters in total, so that results could be compared over time. Between 2023 and 2024, the number of butts they found fell by 53.2%.

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7 到 12 岁的孩子们做的远不只是捡垃圾。每个月低潮时，他们都在海滩上相同的标记区域收集烟头，总面积 1,500 平方米，以便对不同时期的结果进行比较。2023 年至 2024 年间，他们找到的烟头数量下降了 53.2%。

The fall did not come from counting alone. The children’s club also placed collectors made from old plastic pipes along the beach walkway, and these caught 1,198 butts in 18 months. The idea that changed behaviour most was an “exchange point“, where people could borrow snorkels or balls if they handed in rubbish from the beach. In eight events, this brought in 941 butts and almost 98 kilograms of other waste.

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数量的下降并不仅仅来自统计。孩子们的俱乐部还在海滩步道沿线放置了用旧塑料管制成的收集器，18 个月里收集了 1,198 个烟头。对人们行为改变最大的做法是“交换点”：人们只要交上从海滩捡来的垃圾，就能借用浮潜用具或球。8 次活动中，交换点共收集了 941 个烟头和近 98 公斤其他垃圾。

The local council supported the children with materials and shared their results through official channels. Most of the children, 85.7%, said they passed on what they had learned to family and friends, and some parents began collecting butts at work. Boys and girls answered in similar ways, which suggests the project worked equally well for both.

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当地社区议会为孩子们提供物资支持，并通过官方渠道分享他们的成果。85.7% 的孩子表示，他们把学到的知识告诉了家人和朋友，一些家长也开始在工作场所收集烟头。男孩和女孩的回答相似，这表明项目对两者同样有效。

The authors also admit a weakness. The data are freely available online, but little of the work has yet appeared in scientific journals. In total, the project kept 6,821 butts from reaching the ocean.

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作者也承认存在不足。项目数据可在网上免费获取，但到目前为止，相关成果在科学期刊上发表得还很少。总体来看，这个项目阻止了 6,821 个烟头进入海洋。

新闻来源

• Phys.org (Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral) · Child-led citizen science helps Ecuadorian community tackle beach pollution and shape environmental decisions (23 Oct 2026)
• Ocean & Coastal Management · Co-creating solutions through citizen science: Children reduce cigarette butt contamination on Ayangue beach (Ecuador) (DOI: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2026.108132)

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