In 2025, Karosta Beach in Liepāja was recognized as Latvia’s dirtiest beach, while Lauči Beach in Limbaži district was recognized as the cleanest, according to the monitoring of the “My Sea” campaign, which concluded that on average 306 pieces of waste are found every 100 meters on Latvian coastal beaches.

Meanwhile, 1,522 pieces of waste were found on Karosta Beach in this section, while 16 pieces of waste were found on the clean Lauči Beach.

This year, the pollution level has decreased by 8% compared to 2024, when 334 pieces of rubbish were found per 100 meters of beach, the campaign organizers said.

The founder of the campaign and representative of the Environmental Education Foundation, Jānis Ulme, welcomed the positive trend, while noting that it should be viewed with caution due to the weather conditions this summer.

As Ulme pointed out on Latvian Radio’s “Afternoon” program, the decrease in litter is observed for the second season in a row, however, due to this summer’s weather conditions, many hypotheses about the reasons will only be able to be tested next year. At the same time, Ulme expressed hope that the downward trend will continue next year as well.

He said that this year, there is both good and bad news after monitoring. The good news is that the deposit system has “taken away” more than half of this type of waste, and the amount of screw tops and cosmetics have also decreased as a result of European Union initiatives. Despite this, the proportion of plastic is growing.

The monitoring concluded that on average 33 different types of waste are found on each beach. The top types of waste are smoking waste (26.4%), plastic food packaging (12.3%), unidentifiable pieces of plastic (12.1%), and identifiable pieces of paper and cardboard (7.2%). Of the 15 types of waste found most often on the coast, 9 are plastic waste.

The cleanest and most polluted beaches

When assessed by municipality, the most polluted beaches this season are in Liepāja (839 pieces of garbage per 100 meters of beach), while the cleanest are in Limbaži municipality (111 pieces of garbage per 100 meters of beach).

This year, when evaluating individual beaches, the list of the cleanest beaches has shrunk, reaching a total of four beaches along the Latvian coastline. The cleanest beaches are: Lauči beach in Limbaži municipality (16 pieces of garbage per 100 meters), followed by Abragciems (50 pieces), Engure central beach (75 pieces) and Ziemupe (77 pieces).

Meanwhile, Liepāja Karosta beach was recognized as the most polluted individual beach this year, with 1,522 pieces of garbage found per 100 meters of beach. Jūrmala Majori Beach (848 pieces) and Liepāja Central beach (754 pieces) also topped the list of dirtiest beaches.

Although the 2025 assessments show a decrease in the amount of cigarette butts on the Latvian coast, they are still the most common type of litter, the monitoring concluded. On average, 81 cigarette butts were found on every 100-meter stretch of Latvian beach included in the assessment program.

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