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Plastic remains in the oceans have recently attracted attention and are perceived as a serious
problem.
You are asked to write a brief scientific assessment for the “Scientific Association for the
Promotion of Rational Environmental Policy” on what measures at European level could most
effectively limit further increase in pollution of the Mediterranean Sea.

Introduction:

Marine plastic pollution is a growing international dilemma that not only threatens marine ecosystem but
also severely effect human lives. The expansion of the plastics industries in the last decades is majorly
responsible for the increasing marine litter. Since 1950, approximately 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have
been generated, 6.3 billion tonnes of which is a waste. Of that total waste, only 9% has been recycled,
12% is incinerated and 79% is accumulated in landfills and leaked to the environment and eventually
found in the oceans [1].

Plastics are used for various industrial and consumer products. The properties like strength to weight
ratio, buoyancy and durability of plastics makes them increasingly popular in our routine used
merchandises. Unfortunately, the same qualities are the serious threat to the aquatic life when it is
dumped into the oceans. According to research, for every 3 tonnes of fish, the world oceans will have 1
tonne of plastic by 2025. With the same generated waste and its dumping rate, the oceans in 2050 may
contain more plastics than fish [2].

Most plastics are non-biodegradable and remain as a threat for years and for generations to come.
According to EU Parliament report on plastic waste, 40% of the plastic production in EU is for the
packaging purposes and 22% is for the daily household goods. The majority of the plastic debris found
in the oceans comprise of these items. The decomposition time for these plastics is long lasting and it is
around 20-100 years. The degraded plastic itself is a toxin and it is known as micro-plastic.

Nearly 70-13,000 tons of micro-plastics (with a fragments size less than 5mm) is dumped in the ocean
every year. It can easily become the part of the food chain causing serious threat to wild life and people.
The most visible form of sea pollution such as macro-plastic is thrown in the ocean with an average of
150-500,000 tons per year. One can imagine the magnitude of this by considering it as a 66,000 trash

2
trucks dumped in the oceans every year [3]. In 2018, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
declared the ocean plastic pollution as the six most serious environmental emergencies.

Marine plastic pollution sources are the debris from ocean activities and the litter from land based origins.
Ocean sources are mainly the primary contributor to marine plastics pollution. It includes plastic waste
from ships and off-shore facilities. Land based sources of plastic pollution includes plastic processing
and manufacturing, solid waste management activities, landfills and littering in coastline by the
public[4].

This assessment comprises of the problems faced by Mediterranean Sea and initiatives taken by different
European association to control Plastic pollution. In the end, the scientific and managerial solutions have
been given to counter this issue.

Situation of the Mediterranean Sea:

The current situation of the Mediterranean Sea is alarming and need attention to control the plastic
pollution. The Mediterranean holds only 1% of the world’s waters but accumulate 7% of all global micro-
plastics [5]. Plastic is the major waste in this sea as it represents 95% of all litter thrown in it and on its
beaches today. With an estimate that more than 130 different marine species have ingested the plastic.
The consequences of marine pollution are severe for the wildlife and it also affects the economy of the
neighboring countries.

The plastic waste in the Mediterranean mainly comes from Turkey, Greece, Spain, Italy, Egypt and
France. The root cause of plastic pollution is the delays and gaps in plastic waste management.
Approximately 27 million tonnes of plastic waste is produced each year in Europe and only a third of
which is recycled. The recycled plastics meet only 6% of the plastic demand in Europe. The marine litter
dumped into the Mediterranean Sea with the maximum rate are from the following countries: Turkey
144 tonnes per day, Spain 126 tonnes per day followed by Italy 90 tonnes per day and France 66 tonnes
per day [6].

Economic sectors especially fisheries and tourism are majorly affected by plastic pollution. According
to one estimate, the marine litter thrown in the Mediterranean Sea cause € 61.7 million annual economic
losses to the EU fishing industry [7]. The loss is due to reduced catch and damage to vessels.
Mediterranean beaches are the famous tourism spots. There are over 200 million tourists visit the seaside
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every year and 40% of the marine litter during summers is due to the visitor’s leftovers [8]. Polluted
beaches will reduce the tourism and it will result in a consequent unemployment in the sector.

European Strategies to tackle Marine Litter

As discussed earlier, Marine plastic pollution is a global environmental issue and requires mutual
cooperation and teamwork to control it. There are over 74 international plastic associations working for
the cause to eradicate this problem. The Mediterranean countries are also the part of the Global
Declarations. The few notable associations working in the Europe are described briefly in the following
paragraphs:

 Plastic Recyclers Europe PRE is one of the key participant that formulate, monitor and evaluate
the EU policies that have an impact on the plastic recyclers. PRE was founded in 1996 and to
date represents 80% of the EU mechanical recycling capacity. Over the past twenty year, PRE
has performed efficiently in a way of developing a circular economy throughout the European
Union.
 Plastics Europe is a leading European stakeholder that represents manufacturers in the European
plastics industry. Plastic Europe took the initiatives like “Zero Plastics to Landfills” and “Life
Cycle Thinking” to provide sustainable solutions for the marine litter. It fully supports the EU
commission objective of transforming Europe into a more circular and resource efficient
economy [9].
 Barcelona Convention is the UN Environment framework for the protection of the Mediterranean
Sea against pollution. It was established in 1976 to control pollution from the ocean and land
based sources. The convention provides the legal framework of the Mediterranean Action Plan
to collaborate and assist in dealing with pollution emergencies and scientific research.
 Ocean Clean Up is a Dutch non-profit organization founded by Boyan Salt in 2013. The
organization is doing research and developing advanced technologies to clean the world’s ocean
of plastics. They have designed a first ocean cleanup system to collect the plastic litter from the
world oceans. The system 001 will clean the great pacific garbage patch to collect 1.8 trillion
pieces of plastic debris. The association will surely play its part to clean the Mediterranean Sea
in the near future [10].

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Solutions to Limit Further Increase in the Marine Litter:

Plastic waste treatment techniques commonly utilized all over the world are Recycling, Landfill and
Incineration. Recycling is the most feasible method but not all the plastics produced are recyclable. There
are many negative effects associated with landfill. The toxins and leachate produced from the landfills
pollute the ground water and water ways. Incineration although reduce the mass of the waste from 95-96
percent but emits carbon dioxide in the process.

On 16 January 2018, EU parliament released a report on “European Strategy for Plastics” in a circular
economy [11]. The objective of the policy is to identify the major issues faced by European countries to
control the Mediterranean plastic pollution. The strategy focused on the following main points:

1. To improve the quality of plastics recycling by making developments in the plastic products
design.
2. Limit the marine plastic litter entering into the Mediterranean Sea by restricting the use of non-
biodegradable and single use plastics.
3. Making innovations in the plastic value chain from the raw material to the manufacturing and
waste management.
4. Common agenda on a global level by all stakeholders which comprises of international trade
consumer handling and bilateral relations with non-European countries.
5. Civil society should be duly involved and informed about the industry commitments and
obligations. Public awareness about the hazards must be advertised by all the plastic products.

These set of solutions have to be applied at each step of the plastic value chain, from raw materials to
manufacturing and then from consumption to waste management. Plastic properties and importance must
not be neglected and the preventive measures must be initiated through research and innovation to make
it ecofriendly.

In the following paragraphs, the possible methods or solutions to control Mediterranean plastic pollution
will be discussed in conjunction with financial and ecological aspects.

Ban on Non-biodegradable and Single Use Plastics

Single use plastics also known as disposable plastics are commonly used for packaging. Items like
grocery bags, straws, cups, bottles and cutlery are single use plastics. These items are used only once and

5
are thrown away and recycled. Nearly 50% of the plastic waste produced in the world is used for
packaging purposes and majority of it includes single use plastics. EU produced over 16% of the single
use plastic waste globally. This waste is non-biodegradable and eventually reached to oceans causes
marine plastic pollution.

EU Member states must take preventive measure to ensure that by the end of 2019, no more than 90
plastic bags (<50 microns and <10 liters) are consumed by each person every year. By the end of 2025,
that number should be reduced to 40 bags per person [12]. The EU member states can introduce bans,
taxes or other policy tools to cut the usage of plastic bags.

The super markets can play a crucial role to reduce the usage of single use plastics. The plastic free
supermarkets with the use of biomaterials as alternative to plastic packaging will cut the use of plastics.
There is a complete ban of plastic packaging in Germany. The customers bring their own jars, paper bags
for the packaging purposes. The Northern city of Hunza in Pakistan completely banned single use
plastics. The use of plastic is a legal crime there and the visitors have to pay heavy fines when they are
found using plastics. The initiatives like these are exemplary and can play a pivotal role to ensure no
plastic ends up in landfills, rivers and eventually in oceans.

Improvement of Recyclability

The design of the existing plastic products needs to be improved by introducing global eco-design
standards. It will improve the order of recyclability and reusability. By adapting these designs, there will
be a significant reduction in the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) cost [13]. The optimization in the
design of the recycling and waste management techniques will not only control the aquatic pollution but
will also open-up the employment opportunities.

According to a survey conducted by Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE), the research and development,
manufacture and maintenance of equipment and management in the recycling would create new 50,000
in direct jobs and 75,000 in indirect jobs by 2020 in the European Union PRE member countries. This
number could rise to 80,000 in direct jobs and 120,000 in indirect jobs by 2025.

The improvement in plastics product design will support economy and control the Mediterranean plastic
pollution.

6
Creating more Secondary Raw Material Markets

Circular economy model is an essential tool to control pollution, resources depletion and energy
consumption. This model can only be successful if the secondary raw material markets are fully opera-
tional. The secondary raw material is the waste which is first organized or sorted. It is then sold and used
for final recycling. This facilitates the recycling process by completing both the demand and the supply.
It will also easily sort the plastic from different kind of waste.

At present, secondary raw material markets are being utilize on a very small scale. The raw material
quality and supply largely depends on the degree of separation of litter at source and waste management
practices.

By creating more secondary raw material markets, the plastic waste can be handled easily. The recycling
time will be increased and become more efficient. The EU goal of reaching 100% recycling of all plastics
by 2040 can be achieved by adopting this technique [14].

Social Awareness and Public Pressure

Social awareness and education can play key role to change the consumer attitude and thinking towards
the plastics usage. It is a long term process and require shear commitment a transformational behavior.
The activities like regular public debates, messages through a school curriculum from a young age can
effectively aware the public about the plastic hazards. These strategies should focus both on the recycling
of resources and minimum waste generation.

Public pressure can force the policy makers to control the Mediterranean plastic pollution. It the
consumer demands that drives the manufacturing and supply of goods. If the public decides to cut the
plastic usage, the industries will look for the better alternatives and eco-friendly plastics. The government
and industries will then make their policies and products by considering the public demands.

7
Conclusion:

The assessment pointed out scientific and managerial solutions to control the pollution of the
Mediterranean Sea. As the study suggests, numerous associations are working on the common agenda to
eradicate the marine plastic pollution. It is the need of the hour and our moral responsibility to expedite
the ocean clean ups and optimize the recycling techniques. This will pave the path for the Sustainable
Development Goal of reducing the marine litter and our future generations will be handed over with a
better world and a healthy environment to live.

8
Bibliography

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rethinking the future of plastics, 2017.
3. Commission, r.E., A European strategy for plastics in a circular economy, 2018, COM
(2018).
4. Kindt, S.W.a.M.P., 34 CATH. UNIV. L. REV. 37, 95 (1984) (slating that marine pollution
through solid wastes are primarily attributable to land-based sources).
5. Suaria, G., et al., The Mediterranean Plastic Soup: synthetic polymers in Mediterranean
surface waters. Scientific reports, 2016. 6: p. 37551.
6. Angiolillo, M., et al., Distribution and assessment of marine debris in the deep Tyrrhenian
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10. https://www.theoceancleanup.com/technology/.
11. Commission Work Programme 2018 - COM(2017) 650.
12. Directive (EU) 2015/720 of the European Parliament and the Council.
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