#Plastic in the ocean: The facts, effects and new EU rules

The results of today’s single-use, throw-away plastic culture can be seen on sea shores and in oceans everywhere. Plastic waste is increasingly polluting the oceans and according to one estimation, by 2050 the oceans could contain more plastic than fish by weight.

New EU rules, adopted by MEPs on 24 October, tackle lost fishing gear and  the 10 single-use plastic products most widely found on European shores. Together these two groups account for 70% of marine litter.

Problem

Plastic doesn’t just make a mess on the shores, it also hurts marine animals who get entangled in larger pieces and mistake smaller pieces for food. Ingestion of plastic particles can prevent them from digesting normal food and might attract toxic chemical pollutants to their organisms.

Humans eat plastic through the food chain. How this affects our health is unknown.

Sea litter causes economic losses for sectors and communities dependent on the sea but also for manufacturers: only about 5% of the value of plastic packaging stays in the economy – the rest is literally dumped, showing the need for a approach focused more on recycling and reusing materials.

What needs to be done?

The most effective way to tackle the problem is to prevent more plastic getting in the ocean.

Single-use plastic items are the biggest single group of waste found on sea shores: products such as plastic cutlery, drink bottles, cigarette butts or cotton buds make up almost half of all sea litter.

Proposed measures

A total ban is proposed for single-use plastic items for which alternatives in other materials are already readily available: cotton buds, cutlery, plates, straws, drink stirrers and balloon sticks. MEPs also added oxo-degradable plastic products and fast food containers made out of polystyrene to the list .

For the rest, a range of other measures is proposed:

• Consumption reduction targets of 25% by 2025 for food containers and 50% by 2025 for cigarette filters containing plastic;
• obligations for producers of items such as wrappers, cigarette filters, wet wipes etcetera to cover the costs of waste-management and clean-up (so called extended producer responsibility);
• collection target of 90% by 2025 for drink bottles (for example through deposit refund systems);
• labelling requirements for sanitary towels, wet wipes and balloons to alert users to their correct disposal, and;
• awareness-raising.

For fishing gear, which accounts for 27% of sea litter, producers would need to cover the costs of waste management from port reception facilities. EU countries should also collect at least 50% of lost fishing gear per year and recycle 15% of it by 2025.

Next steps

The Council will now need to vote on its position before Parliament can start negotiations with member states.