09 Jul 2017
The European Commission will present by the end of 2017 a Strategy on Plastics as part of the Circular Economy Action Plan; one of its components will address leakages of plastic to the environment. As inputs for the Strategy, the Commission has launched studies investigating all sources of micro-plastics and options to reduce their emissions. […]
09 Jul 2017
Coalition working, is gaining traction as a device for focussing effort, here are four major organisational responses by both NGOs and Governments that match the unfolding massive scale of the problem. The task will soon become to assess the effectiveness of these coalitions in practice. 1.The Plastic Pollution Coalition http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/ The Plastic Pollution Coalition mission is to […]
01 Jul 2017
This is a helpful but a rare event. I can’t remember the last time a Defra Minister provided an overview covering UK’s position on protecting the marine environment. UK takes centre stage in global marine protection Today the UK and Ireland co-hosted the annual meeting of OSPAR to protect the marine environment. Environment Minister Thérèse […]
01 Jul 2017
This is the same piece as above but it focuses on the marine litter and plastics elements. In particular the commitments UK Government has made to work with international bodies on this. I have added links to these programmes which are not the original. UK takes centre stage in global marine protection – the litter […]
12 Jun 2017
These days you could fill up newsletters with ocean litter initiatives and programmes. These seem to be growing exponentially – four recent examples. So the awareness and pressure is building but is it being focussed? We saw with plastic bags that focussed campaigns can work. That took years in the UK how long will it […]
22 May 2017
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, together with The Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit, have today announced the launch of the $2 million New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize. The Prize which is funded by Wendy Schmidt as Lead Philanthropic Partner of the New Plastics Economy Initiative, calls for innovators, designers, scientist and entrepreneurs to help create packaging that […]
16 May 2017
Critics say plan for drifting ocean trash collectors is ‘unmoored’ Science By Erik Stokstad May 11, 2017, 2:45 PM ‘It is undeniably an ambitious vision. Boyan Slat, a charismatic 22-year-old drop-out inventor, plans to clean up plastic trash circulating in the North Pacific Gyre by launching a fleet of floating trash collectors. Ocean currents would propel floating […]
09 May 2017
This is also important because of the links between microplastics and other organic pollutants that can then start their route into the food chain. Microplastics have been documented in marine environments worldwide, where they pose a potential risk to biota. Environmental interactions between microplastics and lower trophic organisms are poorly understood. Coastal shelf seas are […]
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