Introduction to Marine Litter Our Common Baltic 2015 Hildur Hardardottir

Global concern and complex transboundary issue with no easy fix High on the environmental agenda (MSFD) Poses environmental, economic, health and aesthetic problems Poor waste management, infrastructure and low awareness Symbol of inefficient economy = resource loss/waste Best solution = circular economy THE R´s What is marine litter?

60-85% of marine waste consists of plastic Big threat because it´s durable, floats and travels long distances 1950 = 1.5 million tonnes 2008 = 245 million tonnes 2050 = tripled! In 2008, of 25 Mt of plastic waste only 5.3 Mt was recycled Economic damage (in 2010) – Cost across EU for beach cleaning was approx. 60 million EUR/year – Cost to fishing industry 60 million EUR/year – 1% of total revenues of EU fishing fleet What is marine litter?

Land-based activities – land-fills – rivers and floodwaters – industrial outfalls – discharge from storm water drains – untreated municipal sewerage – littering of beaches, coastal areas (tourism) Sea-based activities – fishing industry – shipping (eg. transport, tourism) – offshore mining and extraction – illegal dumping at sea – discarded fishing gear Main sources of marine litter

Stomach contents of a northern fulmar – North Sea Image courtesy of OSPAR/KIMO, photograph Jan van Franeker.

Plastics smaller than 5 mm 80% of marine litter is microplastics Primary: manufactured for direct use (scrubs, toothpaste) or indirect use (pellets) Secondary: formed by fragmentation of larger plastic items, fibres from washing clothes, car tires, boat paint etc Contain chemicals and can absorb and concentrate contaminants (eg pesticides) from surrounding seawater Emerging evidence of transfer of chemicals from ingested plastics to tissues of marine creatures Ingestion of microplastics harms physiology of organisms and compromise their fitness Risk that it travels the food chain higher up to human consumption! Microplastics

Illustration: BUND, Germany The pathway of microplastics in the marine environment

Frequency of occurrence of polymers in 42 studies of microplastics at sea or in marine sediments Polymer type% studies (n) Polyethylene (PE)79 (33) Polypropylene (PP)64 (27) Polystyrene (PS)40 (17) Polyamide (nylon) (PA)17 (7) Polyester (PES)10 (4) Acrylic (AC)10 (4) Polyoximethylene (POM)10 (4) Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)7(3) Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)5(2) Poly methylacrylate (PMA)5(2) Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)2(1) Alkyd (AKD)2(1) Polyurethane (PU)2(1) From Hidalgo-Ruz et al. 2012

Common microplastics found in personal care products

Marine litter and microplastics have negative social and economic impacts – Reduces ecosystem services – Compromises perceived benefit Public engagment and education helps rasie awareness and promote positive behaviour change Increased awareness of citizens: – Political pressure – Personal behaviour change – Acceptence of new products – Influence commercial impacts (STOP THE BEAD!) Social aspects

Image reproduced from Buckley and Pinnegar 2011

Campaigns

The MARLIN project: a monitoring project in the Baltic Sea – Aim to increase knowledge and data as well as raise awareness among the public and policy makers Monitored beaches in Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia Cigarette butts most common litter – 301,9 cigarette butts/100m at urban beaches Next most common – unidentified pieces of plastic – fragmented plastics/microplastics Other common – Glass fragments – Plastic bottle caps and lids – Plastic bags – Foamed plastic – Food containers – Candy wrappers It´s from our modern take-away lifstyle! Sea-based sources such as shipping not as common source in the Baltic Seas in for example the North East Atlantic (ie ropes, fishing gear etc.) However, the Baltic Sea lacks strong surface currents and tidal water MEANING there could be hot spots of sea-bed litter More research is needed! Marine litter in the Baltic Sea

Microplastics in the Baltic Sea A study of the Baltic Sea Region revealed that annually 130 tons of microplastics from care products are flushed down the household drains and, due to ineffective filtering by sewage treatment plants, up to 40 tons of microplastics end up in the Baltic Sea

Marine Strategy Framework Directive Aims to achieve Good Environmental Status in the EU by 2020, consists of 11 descriptors Most important current legislative tool for marine litter in the EU Marine litter is descriptor nr 10: “Properties and quantities of marine litter do not cause harm to the coastal and marine environment” EU policy level

A Strategy to reduce plastic waste in the environment – implementing better waste management A Directive to reduce the use of plastic bags – agreed on 28 April 2015 The Port Reception Facility Directive – outlining responsibility in delivery of ship- generated waste at EU ports Contribution of other EU policies or legislation

Regional Action Plan for Marine Litter Key responsibility is in the hands of the member states of HELCOM – Together with the industry and the civil society. Main actions: – Establish an overview of sources in the Baltic Sea, including products and processes – Influence the legal frameworks – Address waste water treatment plants  promote best available techniques for filtering to prevent microplastics entering the sea Regional policy level - HELCOM

What do we want? – Ban microplastics from consumer care products by law – Set up EU marine litter reduction target of 50% by 2025 – Baltic Sea States fully implement HELCOM Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter, applying innovative and radical reduction strategies CCB´s work

Joint campaign against microplastics in cosmetics Increase awareness about existence and problems of microplastics in consumer products Support consumers to make informed choices Suggest improvements to address the problem, e.g. wastewater treatment, upstream solutions in washing machines. Bring findings to stakeholders and companies and commit them to act on the problem

Marine litter monitoring Bridge knowledge and data gaps – Baseline for policy – How do we know when we have improved? CCB wants to act as a regional node in the BSR – to facilitate and support NGOs in the region to contribute to awareness and knowledge of marine litter in the Baltic Sea

Thank you for listening!