Representing the interests of plastics manufacturers, the lobby group Plastics Europe has complained to the European Commission and is trying to overturn an Italian government initiative that would reduce the amount of plastic bags entering the marine environment.
A new report on marine litter has highlighted a problem that not only ruins beaches and maims unsuspecting wildlife but costs governments and industry millions of Euros each year.
At a European Commission Workshop yesterday Green MEP Keith Taylor called on the EU to take action on marine litter as Commissioner Potočnik urged for greater focus on solutions.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has taken steps to further regulate garbage from ships by agreeing to a set of proposed drafted amendments to existing regulations – Once adopted, strong enforcement will be crucial.
Ministers attending next week’s high level meeting of the OSPAR Commission in Norway will be asked by Seas At Risk, KIMO International and other environmental NGOs to support a manifesto calling for urgent action to deal with marine “garbage patches” and the build up of marine litter in the North-East Atlantic.
The annual Mediterranean beach clean-up, as organised by Seas At Risk member Legambiente, will take place this year between the 29th and 30th of May.
A joint project between Seas At Risk and member organisation Stichting De Noordzee has culminated in a new brochure detailing the escalating problem of marine litter - which is now available online.
In response to a formal written question put forward by Caroline Lucas MEP, the European Commission has acknowledged the problem of waste at sea but has given little hope for immediate action to prevent this spiralling problem.
A leaked report by the German government has heavily criticised both the United Nations and the European Union’s efforts to prevent the continuing build up of marine waste at sea, the German magazine Spiegel Online has reported.
A group of scientists has set sail to study the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The study’s maiden voyage, from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands through the Sargasso Sea, is part of the 5 Gyres Project, which will launch a second sail across the South Atlantic in August. Participating in and directing the project are researchers Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins, who have worked with Captain Charles Moore, founder of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF), documenting the growing accumulation of plastic pollution in the North Pacific Gyre.
The Dutch government has urged action on marine plastic debris.
The Dutch delegation presented a note to EU Environment ministers in at the Environment Council in Luxembourg on 21st October.
Marine scientists from California are venturing out into the Pacific to find out more about the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch".
A research vessel carrying a team of about 30 researchers, technicians and crew members embarked on Sunday on a three-week voyage from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, based at the University of California at San Diego.
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