Litter on EU coastlines down by almost a third in five years
The European Environmental Agency (EEA) reports an overall decline of litter on EU beaches of 29% between 2015 and 2021, with single-use plastics considered alone down by 40%.
Plastic in the oceans is a problem worldwide, causing damage to the environment and to marine and coastal ecosystems. CNN reported last year that 2000 truckloads worth of it are dumped into the sea everyday.
Some of the plastic that leaks into oceans from waterways, rivers, industries and individuals, ends up trapped in particular subtropical areas with circular currents, including the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but campaigners say 80% of floating plastic washes up on coastlines within a month.
Recent reports assessing beached plastic, both from the EU and Australia, give reason to be hopeful that the amount of plastic waste appearing along these coasts has become significantly less in recent years.
50% reduction in ocean plastic by 2030
An EEA report published in March shows that the trend in coastal litter in the EU is encouragingly downward and well on the way to a 2030 goal of 50% decline. Environmental monitors caution, nonetheless, that improvements in waste management and leakage prevention are critical to maintaining good progress. Some recent large shipping spills, for instance, led the EU to include the maritime freight industry in its rules limiting microplastic pollution.
Using methods commonly agreed upon between member states, countries in the EU have been collecting data on coastal marine refuse since 2012. With coastal litter levels being considered as a stand-in measure of plastic litter in the sea, a “zero pollution action plan” adopted by the bloc in 2021 set a goal of 50% reduction in ocean plastic by 2030. This was one of a number of targets in EU pollution reduction intended to bring levels below that which harm human health and natural ecosystems.
45% less litter on Baltic Sea coasts
The EEA’s coastal litter report examines data for 4 coastal areas: the Baltic Sea, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and North Atlantic/North Sea coasts, of which the Baltic Sea coasts saw the most dramatic decline of litter overall at 45%. Broken down into categories of plastic waste, with data averaged over all the areas, fishing-related items and plastic bags both declined by 20%, while single-use plastics fell most steeply at 40%.
The EU is not the only place to observe reduced levels of litter along its coastlines. A similar phenomenon is showing up in the southern hemisphere’s biggest land mass. Last month Australia’s national science agency reported results comparing data between 2013 and 2023 that showed plastic debris on beaches had declined 39% in that ten year period when averaged over six coastal regions of the country. Like that of the EEA, the report cited a need to do more in order to keep the downward trend on course.
Meanwhile, grassroots efforts continue to spring up worldwide to help rid the ocean of plastic. One such project is the Mediterranean Cleanup, which has enlisted thousands of fishermen in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea to collect garbage in their nets and haul it in for recycling.
Photo: Annie Spratt
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