Marine Litter Vital Graphics

DRIVERS

take into account differences in demographics (such as gender, age, income and social status).

of shifts in the right direction, the magnitude of change needed will take a substantial amount of time.

There are obviously benefits in terms of energy, climate and health from using plastics and therefore the goal should not be to completely move away from plastic, but to use it more efficiently and in an environmentally sustainable way. Even with all the efforts made in the separation and collection of plastic waste, the proportion of plastics that are effectively recycled globally may not even reach 5 per cent of production (Velis, 2014), with large regional variations. The annual volume of globally traded plastic waste destined for recycling was around 15 million tonnes in 2012 (Velis, 2014), with China being a leading import country for plastic scrap recycling. Profound changes are needed to reduce the amount of pollution from plastic waste. Such changes will affect society and industry and, while there are many examples

And yet there is no time to lose. The forecasted impacts of marine litter demand the urgent development of alternative, efficient solutions. Short-term solutions should be implemented to reduce the immediate negative effects, while the necessary long-term changes in consumption and production are incentivised through policy, economic and education/awareness mechanisms. It is clear that plastic has multiple value and functions in our society. There is a need for further research into the demographics of consumer behaviour specific to marine plastic pollution, and willingness to change those behaviours. But given the negative (and unknown) impacts that plastic has on the marine environment, it is necessary to take urgent measures to reduce our dependency of short-lived plastic and to prevent it from reaching the marine environment.

How much plastic waste is produced worldwide

Plastic waste generation rate Kilograms per person per day

0.1

0.2

0.5

0.7

Source: Jambeck, J., R., et al., Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean, Science, 2015

Marine Litter Vital Graphics

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