Human needs — the drivers of marine litter

What do we know about marine litter?

‘Marine litter’ is defined as ‘persistent, synthetic or processed solid items or fragments discarded or abandoned’. It can reach coastal and marine environments directly, but most often, it is carried by rivers into the sea.

Plastic pollution accounts for 85% of marine litter

Source: PPSI (ETC/ICM, 2022) , (EC, 2021)

Plastic pollution arising from land is by far the biggest and most worrying part of the problem. It accounts for approximately 85% of marine litter (UNEP, 2021). Products and processes to satisfy human needs, health and well-being — such as the production, delivery and safety of food — result in a significant amount of waste. Other drivers include demand for plastic from industrial and transport activities.

While up to 80% of marine litter originates on land, maritime activities account for 20%. This includes coastal tourism and recreation, particularly around the Mediterranean Sea, and fishing, aquaculture and shipping centred around busy North Sea and Adriatic Sea ports. Up to a third of the litter generated by merchant shipping (EC, 2018) is not correctly delivered and processed in port. Although hard to prove, it is thought that large volumes are illegally discharged at sea (EC, 2018).

Plastic is not evil — it is unavoidable. The challenge is to adequately meet fundamental human needs while minimising environmental degradation and pollution.

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How plastic pollutes

In 2020 alone, Europe produced around 55 million tonnes of plastic, of which approximately 20 million tonnes were plastic packaging (Plastics Europe, 2021). Careless plastic disposal — often everyday acts — and poor waste management in production, consumption, collection and disposal start a chain of events that ends in vast amounts of marine litter, according to the Eionet ETC report.

Plastic packaging and small plastic items comprise 65% of marine litter, and half of the items found on European beaches are single-use plastics. These macroplastics pollute the water. Over time, plastic litter accumulates in the environment and gradually fragments into smaller, unrecognisable pieces known as microplastics.

Plastic litter can be derived from ‘leakages’ of manufacturing and transport activities, from primary microplastics designed specifically for products such as cosmetics, or from molecules released from the weathering and fragmentation of larger waste items such as synthetic textiles, paints and rubber tyres. Over 500,000 tonnes of microplastics are estimated to be leaked from the erosion of vehicle tyres each year, for example (Hann et al., 2018).

Irresponsible actions on land result in macroplastics flowing into the ocean, primarily through rivers. Once in the environment, marine organisms can eat it by mistake or become entangled in its sharp plastic sinews, both of which can have deadly consequences. Ingestion or absorption of microplastics in the seas may cause a decline in marine populations, as well as changes in assemblages and ecosystem functioning. This degrades coastal and marine ecosystems and damages their resilience, and includes the related costs of degrading ecosystems, economy and well-being (EC, 2017).

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What are the drivers?

Plastic has revolutionised our societies and transformed the way we live, particularly plastic packaging. Globally, we produce 20 times more of it today than half a century ago (Plastics Europe, 2022).

Europe currently demands around 20 million tonnes of plastic for packaging

Notes: Plastic converter demand for packaging in Europe (27 EU Member States (EU-27) and the UK, Norway and Switzerland, except for 2012 and 2013, when data refer to the EU-27 and Norway and Switzerland). The chart exclusively refers to plastics from virgin resins and not recycled plastics.

Source: Plastics Europe (2021).

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The reason is that plastic is so versatile. It can be soft and pliable for some applications, yet hard for others that need to be durable. Our cars, planes, household goods and handheld devices are full of plastic parts. Thanks to innovative packaging, plastic also helps feed growing populations by preserving our food for longer.

Yet we can’t carry on with ‘business as usual’ — making wasteful and harmful decisions without considering the consequences. The challenge is to adequately meet fundamental human needs for food, hygiene and well-being while minimising environmental degradation and pollution that results as a consequence. Poor waste management on land and suspect practices in sectors such as tourism, fisheries, aquaculture and transport are some of the main drivers of plastic pollution (Veiga et al., 2016).

Nearly 40% of plastic demand comes from the production of plastic packaging

Note: The figure exclusively refers to virgin plastic resins.

Source: Plastics Europe (2022).

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Plastic packaging accounts for approximately 40% of plastic demand. About 20% is derived from the industrial sector and almost 10% is from the transport sector (Plastics Europe, 2022). Coastal tourism and recreation are two other sectors that use a lot of plastic, as do maritime activities such as fishing, aquaculture and shipping.

What’s the policy response?

From 2010 to 2018, total waste generation increased by 4.4% while GDP expanded by 17%. This means that Europe is not fulfilling its policy goals of waste prevention and reduction. Although a sharp decrease in 2020 was observed for both, this is probably temporary due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Plastic is a different story, however. The problem is that steadily increasing demand for plastic and increasing plastic production led to more plastic packaging waste generated per person. Remarkably, this was even the case during COVID-19, when economies in Europe slowed down.

Data comparing 2012 with 2018 reveal a significant overall growth in plastic packaging and small non-packaging plastic items (PPSI) among the 32 EEA member countries, in both absolute terms and per person.

Europe could not decouple plastic waste generation from GDP

Note: Waste generation and decoupling in the 27 EU Member States (EU-27) between 2010 and 2020 (EEA, 2021) and plastic packaging waste generated per person in the EU-27 between 2011 and 2020.

Source: Eurostat.

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What this means is that economic growth will continue to generate increased waste as long as the economy remains linear rather than circular. A radical shift is badly needed to stop wasteful ‘take-make-use-throw’ behaviour, typified by outdated ‘linear’ economic ideas. In their place, we need to strengthen and coordinate circular policies and actions driving green investment that decouples economic growth from raw material use.

In the transition to a green economy, the EU mandates Member States to implement their zero pollution and waste management strategies in accordance with the waste hierarchy outlined in the EU Waste Framework Directive. Waste prevention is the preferred approach because it avoids releasing waste into the environment in the first place. Reuse, recycling and recovery or disposal of waste should only be necessary if waste cannot be prevented.

Waste hierarchy

Source: European Commission.

The EU has set out ambitious goals to be achieved by 2030 that link the circular economy and zero pollution agendas.

Current EU instruments complement these policy measures. They include the circular economy action plan and its plastics strategy, the zero pollution action plan, the revised Waste and Packaging Waste Directives, the Single-Use Plastics Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, all intended to better protect fragile marine ecosystems and biodiversity.

Overview of EU policy instruments relevant to marine litter

The EU’s overall strategy is to transform policy, energise industry and motivate consumers to act. At the centre is the European Green Deal, supported by action plans for the circular economy and for zero pollution, as well as the plastics strategy. Taken together, these policies have the clout and ambition to drive positive change.

Do these policies work?

Can all these political developments and the growing awareness around them really transform consumer behaviour and markets? The optimistic answer is that they can and are having an impact. The realistic view, backed by findings in the Eionet ETC report on marine litter and elsewhere, is that much more is needed on the implementation side, including more effective application of the waste hierarchy.

The effective roll-out of the Single-Use Plastics Directive in 2019 inspires some confidence. It bans items often found on the beach, such as plastic cutlery, plates and coffee stirrers. On an individual level, the ban has made people in Europe much more aware of their actions. On a commercial level, it has transformed sectors and signalled the success of ‘circular economy’ thinking. It has also reminded European residents that actions have consequences and that people have the power to spark change.