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The Transition | August 2024
People and progress in solving the ocean plastic crisis
About OpenOceans Global. Our work centers on mapping ocean plastic, curating the best solutions, and linking together a community of ocean plastic experts and leaders. Learn more on the Weather Channel's Pattrn interview, NBC7/39's Down to Earth segment, and ArcNews.
Past issues of The Transition
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In This Issue: (links to articles below)
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Did you know?
The majority of leakage of municipal solid waste into aquatic environments occurs in Africa, China, India, and South Asia.
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Taking a Deeper Dive
Report identifies plastic hot spots in aquatic environments
Image credit:
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis/Adriana Gomez Sanabria
A June 28, 2024, report by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) adopted a waste systems perspective to identify hot spots of land-waste leakage and determine which rivers, lakes, and coastal areas are particularly at risk. The results indicate a need for urgent action. Here are some key findings:
- The majority of leakage of municipal solid waste – everyday items that are discarded by people – into aquatic environments occurs in Africa, China, India, and South Asia.
- There is a need for global cooperation, particularly across these four regions, to responsibly manage waste disposal.
- Focusing on single waste streams can lead to unintended consequences. For example, as single-use plastic cups are replaced with paper cups, the amount of paper waste has increased. Therefore, it is crucial to set targets that address multiple waste streams simultaneously.
- There is a pressing need to establish a standardized framework to monitor waste generation, composition, and flows.
Drifters trace the path of plastic from the Netherlands to Denmark
Image credit: Utrecht University/Erik van Sebille
Erik van Sebille, Professor of Oceanography at Utrecht University, has conducted a new study to determine how plastic flows from the Netherlands to Denmark and Germany. Van Sebille used 24 Metocean Stokes Drifters, small, white, floating devices that look like Frisbees, that follow water currents as if they were plastic debris. The drifters are equipped with GPS and a satellite transmitter, so their positions can be tracked in real-time. The drifters were released in two batches at low tide on the mudflats just north of Moddergat, a fishing village in the Netherlands. Click on this link to see the animation as the drifters traveled across the Wadden Sea to their destination on islands off the southwest coast of Jutland, Denmark.
U.S. releases a plastic pollution strategy
According to a July 19, 2024, White House press release, The Biden Administration has released “the first comprehensive, government-wide strategy to target plastic pollution at production, processing, use, and disposal. Mobilizing Federal Action on Plastic Pollution: Progress, Principles, and Priorities outlines existing and new federal actions to reduce the impact of plastic pollution throughout the plastic lifecycle and calls for sustained and coordinated work with state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, local communities, the private sector, and other stakeholders to address the scale and breadth of the plastic pollution challenge.” The strategy has five key focus areas.
- Assessing and Reducing Pollution from Plastic Production. “Upstream” measures, such as more effective regulations on the methods, feedstocks, and chemicals used in plastic production, can lessen associated pollution from key sources at the beginning of the plastic lifecycle.
- Innovating Materials and Product Design. The alignment of measurements and standards, transparency across the supply chain, and opportunities for innovation in materials and services can help ensure that products are compatible with waste management systems and have minimal impacts on human health and the environment.
- Decreasing Plastic Waste Generation. A key step to decreasing the quantity of plastic waste generated is limiting the initial use of materials that are unnecessary, difficult to manage, or likely to end up as pollution in the environment.
- Improving Environmentally Sound Waste Management. To ensure plastic waste is properly handled, various actions are aimed at improving environmentally sound and worker-safe waste management practices and the associated infrastructure needs.
- Informing and Conducting Capture and Removal of Plastic Pollution. Actions in this section aim to improve the capture of plastic, both before it enters the waste management system, and to address and prevent its escape during the waste management process.
The administration has also announced a new goal “to phase out federal procurement of single-use plastics from food service operations, events, and packaging by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035.”
Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee releases report on microfiber pollution
Another new federal report, this one from the Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee, addresses microfiber pollution. These are the sources: clothing and apparel, carpets and upholstery, cleaning wipes, construction materials, cigarette butts, and fishing nets and ropes. The report describes how microfibers get into the environment, why it is a problem, how microfibers can be measured, and how they can be reduced.
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Image credit: Plastics News/Leo Michael
- Olympic Games sponsor Coca-Cola under fire for 'bizarre' product sold despite organizers' promise: 'The public is not stupid,' The Cool Down, August 18, 2024
- When Is “Recyclable” Not Really Recyclable? When the Plastics Industry Gets to Define What the Word Means, ProPublica, August 15, 2024
- It's time for everyone to get serious about sustainability, Plastics News, August 15, 2024
- Chemical cocktail from plastics: Pilot study describes degradation and leaching process of plastic consumer products, PHYS.ORG, August 12, 2024
- Do plastics cause autism? Here's what the latest study really says, Medical Xpress, August 10, 2024
- Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) Launches New Plastics Demand Estimate Report, Waste Advantage, August 6, 2024
- The Cure for Disposable Plastic Crap Is Here - and It’s Loony, WIRED, August 1, 2024
- Nantucket Beaches Closed after Wind Turbine Breaks Apart, Sending Fiberglass Shards into Ocean, National Review, July 18, 2024
- Living in a plastic world: Tackling plastic pollution, PHYS.ORG, July 26, 2024
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Help Locate Plastic-Fouled Coastlines
Each month we share an image of a beach fouled by plastic. To report a shoreline pervasively fouled by significant amounts of plastic debris, use our online plastic trash reporting app. Thank you!
This Month’s Coastal Hotspot: Maurelle Islands Wilderness, Alaska
Image credit: Northwestern Magazine
The Maurelle Islands Wilderness is an undeveloped nature preserve encompassing about 30 islands located off the western shore of Prince of Wales Island, which can only be accessed by boat or float plane. Like most beaches in Southeastern Alaska, the shorelines are littered with layers of trash, ropes and nets along with tiny plastic fragments. According to a story in Northwestern Magazine, “Most of the waste on Alaska’s shores — including shoes, bags, and bottles of all kinds — is from the United States’ West Coast, but ocean currents in the Northern Pacific Ocean also bring debris from East Asia to Alaska’s shoreline.” A recent week-long cleanup by students from Northwestern University and the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, resulted in 15,000 pounds of marine debris.
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Solutions to the Ocean Plastic Crisis
See more solutions on our ocean plastic solutions page. Have a solution we should know about? Submit it here.
This Month's Featured Solution: Sustainable Coastlines Hawai‘i
Image credit: Sustainable Coastlines Hawai‘i
Sustainable Coastlines Hawai‘i (SCH) is an Oahu-based nonprofit that inspires local communities to care for their coastlines. SCH runs fun, large-scale beach cleanups fueled by a small staff and large groups of passionate volunteers. To date, they have removed over half a million pounds of debris from Hawaiian coastlines. The recovered plastic debris ranges from large, heavy items like lost fishing gear and buoys to mountains of microplastic. SCH believes clean-ups are the gateway to behavior change and encourages visitors to join in cleanups as an opportunity to give back and learn about the impact of marine plastic. Their goal is to take grassroots action to inspire global change. SCH’s good work extends beyond the beach with engaging educational programs, team-building corporate cleanups, resource recovery services, and public awareness campaigns. To achieve their vision of a world of inspired people, clean beaches, and healthy coastlines, the SCH model is one to be shared, and they willingly do so by helping others organize their own beach cleanups.
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Meet the Experts and Leaders
OpenOceans Global is identifying ocean plastic experts from around the world. Here is an expert leading efforts to reduce plastic pollution that you should know about.
Mark Manuel, Pacific Islands Regional Coordinator, NOAA Marine Debris Program
Image credit: NOAA
The Pacific Islands have been significantly impacted by plastic marine debris. Mark Manuel is the Pacific Islands regional coordinator for NOAA’s Marine Debris Program, part of the agency’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R). Manuel investigates and prevents the adverse impacts of marine debris in the Pacific Islands Region (Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) and facilitates information sharing between the region, the national marine debris community, and the national-level Marine Debris Program. A significant amount of his time is spent on stakeholder engagement and liaison. He also works on scientific communication and grants management. The Marine Debris Program envisions the global ocean and its coasts being free from the impacts of marine debris. It achieves its mission through six main pillars: prevention, removal, research, monitoring and detection, response, and coordination. Manuel’s career has included taking part in and leading marine debris survey and removal missions in the remote Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. He says “It is satisfying to know that we contributed to removing hundreds of thousands of pounds of derelict fishing gear and plastics — marine debris that would otherwise destroy or impact critical habitat and wildlife in one of the most ecologically and culturally important protected areas in the world.” Manuel is based in Hilo, Hawaii, where he grew up, and obtained a Master of Science in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Services from the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
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