Plastics in Marine Litter

Although there are many examples of how polymeric materials have contributed to the solution of environmental problems, the public perception of the environmental credentials of plastics and their products is still centred on the highly visible presence of plastics in litter.

Marine litter was the subject of a Workshop in Aberdeen earlier this year, at which Peter Davis, Director General of the British Plastics Federation (BPF), represented SPRA as well as the BPF. The workshop was attended by representatives from local authorities and environmental bodies such as the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) but Peter was the only one from the business world. Although plastics was not the main focus of the meeting, the subject did come up. Around 50% of beach litter is attributed to beach visitors and a further 10% caused by fishing and shipping. A substantial proportion has undefined sources. It was agreed that international regulations relating to waste from ships was impossible to enforce. It was also concluded that there has been too much focus on enforcement and not enough on changing behaviour. For example there should be better training for fishermen. Any action to be taken must be better coordinated and better resourced if the problem is to be minimised.

Peter was able to demonstrate that the plastics industry takes litter seriously, through support for a range of initiatives. Operation Clean Sweep is a project launched by BPF, with a manual to help plastics converters minimise losses of plastics pellets, powders and dust to the environment. The BPF is also involved in a proposal by the European Union of Plastics Converters (EuPC) to pay fisherman to trawl inshore waters to recover plastics marine litter for recycling.

A demonstration of a trawl for plastics marine litter took place in Nice in May 2011.

The BPF supports the Bottle Champions Recycling Campaign, a scheme devised by the Marine Conservation Society to encourage youngsters to collect plastics litter for recycling. As a supporter of the “Love Where You Live” campaign, organised by DEFRA and Keep Britain Tidy, the BPF is considering sponsoring litter bins on busy beaches to reduce the wide social problem of litter and to increase the opportunities for recycling plastics packaging.

Later, in April 2011, Peter was invited to speak at a similar Workshop in Dundee, organised by the Tayside Estuary Forum. In his presentation, described by the Session Chairman as “very encouraging, very refreshing”, Peter spoke of the innovation and resource efficiency capabilities of plastics, and the rapid progress made in recycling. He covered the causes of marine litter and also industry initiatives to stop plastics litter such as:
 sponsoring bins on busy beaches;
 sponsoring the primary school bottle recycling scheme run by the Marine Conservation Society ;
 sponsoring the University of Ghent's study into marine organisms ingestion of micro plastics ;
 the BPF's Operation Clean Sweep to prevent plastic pellet escaping into the environment.

The message was that the Plastics Industry is against used plastics being littered or going to landfill. It would like them back for recycling.

Report by Charlie Geddes, SPRA Hon Secretary, July 2011