marine litter monitoring – implications for plastic waste ... · ~ marpol annex v complete ban on...

Marine Litter Monitoring – Implications for plastic waste management and legislation

Mayor Albert de Hoop

President KIMO International

Kommunenes Internasjonale Miljøorganisasjon

Local Authorities International Environmental Organisation

WSF-18 Presentation Albert de Hoop page1

KIMO - THE ORGANISATION

~ Network of 152 Municipalities

~ 15 Countries

~ Norway, Faeroes, Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands/Belgium, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia & Germany

~ National Networks in UK, Sweden, Netherlands/Belgium and Denmark

~ Baltic Forum

~ Lobby International Conventions and Organisations

~ Work against threatening proposals

~ Exchange information

~ Develop best practice

~ Lead by example

~ Undertake demonstrative projects

How does KIMO International Work?


35-year track record

15 states + EC

NGOs / Observers

6 Strategies

Hazardous substances

Eutrophication

Radioactivity

Offshore industries

Biodiversity

Assessment & monitoring

OSPAR Beach Litter Monitoring

~ Undertakes monitoring using standardised 100m protocol

~ 712 litter items per 100m

~ Litter at unacceptable levels


J.A. van Franeker


Percentage of Litter Categories

Most Common Items Monitored


Texel Clean Beach - 20 April 2005

1521 plastic bottles ± 105 per km

Source: Dr Jan van Franeker

Plastic bottles for detergents and

similar

Plastic bottles for drinks etc.

104068%

48132%

Breakdown of types of litter collected in FFL Scotland project

Plastic and Polystyrene

55%

Metal13%

Wood11%

Rubber9%

Textiles12%

NEA Seabed Litter

Source: Fishing for Litter


Average number of litter items on reference beaches

Found numerous fibres & fragments down to 20µm in size

– thinner than a human hair


KIMO Sweden Research

80µm mesh: ~300-2000 plastic particles per m3

~ Predominantly plastic fibres~ Larger amounts in harbours~ No previous survey of this type of

plastic (size) in the sea

Dr Fredrik Norén

Sources


Fishing

SHIPPING


© MCS

Sewage Related Debris

Tourism


Land Based Sources

35.3

13.7

41.9

0.21.80.9 6.1

% Recreational & Beachvisitors

% Fishing

% Sewage RelatedDebris

% Shipping

% Fly Tipped

% Medical

% Non – Sourced

UK Beach Litter Sources

~ Source MCS Beachwatch


KEY Points

~ Plastic accounts for approximately 2/3 of all marine litter

~ It does not degrade significantly in the marine environment and brakes down to form microplastics

~ Many of the plastic/polystyrene pieces come from plastic packaging, bottles and containers

~ Current policies are not reducing “unacceptable” levels

~ A lot of current activity only deals with the symptom not the source e.g. beach cleans

People’s reasons for littering

Top Two = Agree to a large extent + Totally agree

Base: All

18

21

20

35

15

8

29

51

16

12

24

44

17

14

32

60

0 20 40 60 80 100%

Fishing Leisure Shipping Offshore

It’s unintentionally/accidentally

Lack of room on board

In order to save money

To save time


People’s reasons for littering

Top Two = Agree to a large extent + Totally agree

Base: All

They do not understand the consequences

Low sense of responsibility

Convenience

Easy way to get rid of things

51

61

48

62

63

80

69

75

55

69

60

70

53

72

66

76

0 20 40 60 80 100%

Fishing Leisure Shipping Offshore

Barriers to Improvement

~ Lack of awareness of the problem

~ Lack of enforcement of regulations

~ Lack of marine litter information

~ Lack of political will

~ Lack of funding

~ Lack of harmonised monitoring

~ Lack of national/regional coordination


What does this mean for waste management and legislation?

~ Increase enforcement of current legislation

~ Improvement of legislation

~ Placing value on used plastic items

~ Incentivising recycling and better waste management

~ Improving the design of single use items for recycling

Case Study: Shipping

~ MARPOL Annex V complete ban on dumping of plastics

~ Enforcement completely inadequate

~ Complete ban on any dumping of waste

~ 100% no special fee

~ Need much greater exchange of data between harbours


Case Study: Fishing

~ Virtually impossible to prosecute for litter offences

~ Development of better waste management e.g Fishing for litter

~ Extended producer responsibility for fishing nets

~ Deposit schemes on plastic containers

Case Study: Beach users/Land based

~ Incentivise recycling through deposit scheme's and reverse vending

~ Improve labelling to identify high end of life recyclability

~ Legislation to optimise the design of single use products for recycling


Conclusions

~ Plastics are the major component of marine litter

~ Need action right through the lifecycle to reduce the problem

~ Legislation needs to be at a European or International level

~ All levels from producers to users need to take ownership of the problem

www.kimointernational.org

Thank you for listening


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