Volunteers clean up marine garbage at Mount Lavinia Beach near Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. Xinhua News Agency

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The problem of marine plastic waste pollution has increasingly attracted the attention of various countries. Experts believe that marine pollution control is a long-term major project that requires the participation of governments, enterprises and the public, and continued efforts to increase prevention and control, while raising public environmental awareness and accelerating the development of a circular economy.

A latest report from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization of Australia said that the first global assessment of the total amount of microplastic pollution on the seabed completed by the agency showed that there are about 14 million tons of microplastic pollutants in the deep sea around the world, which is more than twice the total amount of plastic pollution on the surface of the ocean. Faced with the severe problem of marine plastic pollution, countries have taken appropriate national prevention and control actions, continuously strengthened international coordination and cooperation, and continued to promote marine environmental protection.

Plastic pollution is becoming more serious

In October this year, an aquarium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, exhibited three installations ranging from 2 meters to 4 meters high - an octopus, a seahorse and a whale. These installations are made of garbage collected by volunteers on the beaches of Rio. In just three months, the volunteers collected about half a ton of marine plastic garbage.

The installation works of the Rio Aquarium show the severity of the global marine plastic garbage pollution problem from one side. According to statistics from the United Nations, it is estimated that at least 8 million tons of plastic products are discharged or discarded into the ocean every year, which is equivalent to an average of one truck of plastic garbage being dumped into the sea every second.

Plastic garbage entering the ocean will be broken down into micro fragments, which are then ingested by plankton and eventually pose a threat to the marine ecosystem and even human health. At present, the area of microplastics floating in the Pacific garbage belt has even reached millions of square kilometers. According to scientists, 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals die every year. The economic losses caused by marine plastic pollution to various countries may be as high as 8 billion US dollars.

After evaluating the environmental quality of 1.48 million square kilometers of sea areas in Europe, the European Environment Agency found that 1.18 million square kilometers of sea areas had varying degrees of pollution problems, of which plastic garbage accounted for nearly 90% of the total amount of marine garbage. A study conducted by marine environmental experts from the Netherlands and Belgium showed that the content of microplastics in 16% of the Mediterranean Sea surface area exceeds the safety standard, and the content in some areas exceeds the standard by more than 5 times. If the pollution situation cannot be effectively controlled, by 2100, 69% of the Mediterranean Sea surface area will no longer be suitable for the survival of marine life.

In Africa, with the growth of population and economy, the consumption of plastic products and the demand for plastic packaging have surged, resulting in the generation of a large amount of plastic waste. Especially in coastal areas of Africa, plastic waste has caused an increasingly serious fishery and ecological crisis. In the northeastern Caribbean Sea, there are as many as 200,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometer of sea area, which will further decompose into microplastics, posing a new pollution threat.

Prevention and control measures are constantly strengthened

According to a report released by the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection of the United Nations, the sources of marine microplastics are mainly divided into primary sources and secondary sources. Marine microplastics from primary sources include raw resin particles discharged into the marine environment during production and transportation, plastic scrub particles in personal care products and detergents, etc.

Secondary microplastics refer to plastic fragments formed by the gradual breakage or decomposition of plastic waste into the marine environment under the action of wind, waves, ultraviolet rays and organisms. Among them, secondary sources are the main component of marine microplastics, mainly from domestic waste, poorly managed landfills, tourism and fishing activities.

In recent years, many countries have formulated corresponding laws and prevention and control action plans on the treatment of floating garbage on the coast and the banning of plastic microbeads in cosmetics. The United Nations Environment Programme has issued an initiative calling on countries around the world to gradually phase out and ban the use of plastic microbeads in personal care products and cosmetics.

In 2018, the European Union launched the "Plastic Strategy in the Circular Economy" to increase the recycling rate of plastic products by setting standards in areas such as design, production and recycling. In March 2019, the European Union passed regulations on the use of disposable plastic products and issued a ban on 10 of the most important disposable plastic products. At the same time, member states are required to ensure that the renewable content in plastic containers must reach 30% by 2030 and the container recycling rate must reach 90% by 2029.

In response to the pollution of the marine environment caused by ocean shipping, the EU has introduced policies to improve the storage and treatment capacity of ports for shipping waste and strengthen effective control over enterprises and ships. In the recently proposed economic recovery plan, the EU decided to impose a tax of 0.8 euros per kilogram on plastic packaging waste from January 2021 to reduce plastic pollution through economic levers.

African countries are also actively responding to marine plastic waste pollution. South Africa designates the second week of October each year as "National Ocean Week" and strengthens the control of marine plastic pollution in a number of legislations such as the National Environmental Management, the Garbage Law, and the Agricultural Law. More than 20 African countries, including Mauritius, Kenya, Senegal, Ethiopia, and Tanzania, have implemented bans or tax policies on plastic bags. Among them, on the island of Zanzibar in Tanzania, the use of plastic bags is banned on the entire island.

Many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean use taxes, bans, and technological innovations to limit the production and consumption of plastic products. At present, Antigua and Barbuda, Colombia and other countries have implemented "plastic bans". The Galapagos Islands in Ecuador prohibit the use and sale of straws, plastic bags, non-recyclable bottles and polyethylene containers. Argentina has also passed a decree to gradually reduce and ban the use of disposable plastic products in protected areas.

Comprehensive governance is imminent

Richard Thompson, a marine biologist and professor at the University of Plymouth in the UK who proposed the concept of microplastics, said that there is no simple answer to solving the problem of plastic pollution. Related products should consider how to effectively control the generation of plastic waste from the first process, which is the basis of the circular economy.

The United Nations Environment Program recently pointed out in a report that finding alternative products is crucial to reducing people's dependence on plastics. The report recommends vigorously developing the bio-industry. Extracting natural fibers and biopolymers from agricultural products and plant waste is an important source for finding plastic substitutes, which is conducive to improving the recycling rate.

Innovation in the field of environmental protection technology provides a new way to effectively deal with the problem of marine plastic pollution. A Chilean company uses polyvinyl alcohol and other materials to make water-soluble handbags. Compared with ordinary plastics that take hundreds of years to degrade, this product can dissolve in water in just 5 minutes without affecting the water quality. The laser detection and positioning system developed by a Norwegian technology company can accurately search and locate plastic waste within the deepest range of one nautical mile below sea level, and clean up the relevant data through artificial intelligence technology.

Alexandre Tura, a professor at the Institute of Oceanography of the University of S?o Paulo in Brazil, believes that marine pollution is not just a problem for coastal countries and cities, it involves almost all countries and cities. To prevent the deterioration of marine pollution, governments should encourage the introduction of sustainable development initiatives and the development of a circular economy. Universities can work with companies to carry out educational programs to continuously improve public environmental awareness and help the public understand and reflect on the harm of excessive use of resources.

(People's Daily Brussels, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, Beijing, October 27)

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