Tag: plastic debris

After 25 years of research, the UK Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science revealed changes in the composition of marine plastic litter, finding a decrease in the amount of plastic bags on the UK’s seabed and suggesting that efforts may be able to tackle the marine litter challenge.

Plastics are the most common form of marine debris. It is estimated that 8.8 million metric tons of plastic waste are dumped in the world's oceans each year. UN says that plastic debris results in an estimated $13 billion a year in losses from damage to marine ecosystems, including financial losses to fisheries and tourism as well as time spent cleaning beaches.

MEPC 72nd session will take place from 9 to 13 April 2018, at IMO Headquarters in London. MEPC 72 will focus on five key issues: Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ships; Implementation of sulphur 2020 limit; Ballast water management treaty implementation; Measures to reduce risks of use and carriage of heavy fuel oil as fuel by ships in Arctic; and Marine litter.

Micro-plastics, small pieces of plastic which are less than 5 millimetres, are increasingly gathering in the seas, slowly breaking down into smaller pieces. China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand are said to be the five countries amount for 60% of microplastics pollution in the seas.

According to the Chinese Prevention and Control of Solid Waste Pollution Law, the import of foreign solid waste into China in order to dump, store or dispose of the same is not permitted. However, if the foreign solid waste can be used as raw materials, it may be imported to China in certain cases. 

One of the most concerning problems that our oceans are facing nowadays – if not the most important – is plastic pollution. Plastics are the cause of increasing ocean pollution, which in turn affects marine life, and consequently humans as well. However, there are easy steps that everyone can follow, in order to eliminate this matter.

Debris and some fuel from the damaged boats was released into the Marina, however most of the fuel was broken up during the bad weather. But considerable quantities of polystyrene from damaged floating pontoons is also adding to the waste disposal problem.

The BSEE Gulf of Mexico Region has developed a new marine training video focusing on the elimination of debris associated with oil and gas operations on the Outer Continental Shelf. Marine debris are an increasing problem in recent decades.

The Ocean Cleanup and the City of Alameda announced that they have signed a lease agreement for portions of the former Alameda Naval Air Station, a peninsula known as Alameda Point. Located on San Francisco Bay, this is the site where assembly of the first cleanup system will begin within the next month.

Many of our waste products end up in the sea and then can move through the ocean, endangering marine life through entanglement, ingestion and intoxication. The Sea Change, a project funded from EU H2020, cited the top five sources of marine pollution and the implications they create for marine life.