Cristopher Domínguez-Hernández, Cristina Villanova-Solano, Soledad Álvarez, Sergio J. Álvarez‐Méndez, Ana Vera Cardoso Alves, João Canning‐Clode, Mara Abu-Raya, Francisco J. Díaz-Peña, Sofia Garcia, May Gómez, Javier González‐Sálamo, Cintia Hernández-Sánchez, L. Herrera, Alicia Herrera, Sofía Huelbes, Ico Martínez, Natacha Nogueira, João Pereira, Christopher K. Pham, Yasmina Rodríguez, Patrício Ramalhosa, Clara F. Rodrigues, Amarita Tavares, Leila Teixeira, Javier Hernández‐Borges
for macroplastics, with the Canary Islands being the archipelago with the highest concentrations. Fragments (83.3 %), with a predominance of white and colourless (62.9 %), and polyethylene and polypropylene as the main types of polymer, 81.2 % and 11.4 %, respectively, were the plastic particles mainly found. Monitoring of 28 previously unstudied beaches revealed the presence of 5 new hotspots of plastic arrival. Statistical analysis revealed that beaches with northwest to east orientations were receiving a higher concentration of plastic litter than the opposite orientations. However, in the central group of the Azores, a notable hotspot was found on a beach oriented toward the southwest. These spatial patterns clearly reflect the influence of prevailing ocean currents associated with the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre, which plays a key role in transporting plastic debris throughout the region. These results may contribute to a better understanding of plastic transport phenomena in a vast oceanic region such as Macaronesia and provide a foundation for further studies in other areas.