Protecting the marine environment from waste pollution – in particular plastic waste, a major killer of mammals, fish and biodiversity – as well as being an urgent necessity for the health of our seas and oceans is also an economic opportunity to be seized by the EU as it moves towards a circular economy and sustainable development, EU environment ministers stated in Malta on Wednesday 26 April.
Protecting the seas and oceans was the thread that ran through all of this two-day informal meeting of the Environment Council as it discussed the interface between climate and environment policies against a backdrop of sustainable development. Chairing the meeting was Maltese Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change Minister José Herrera (see EUROPE 11774).
Addressing the press after the meeting, Herrera said that the EU is currently preparing a new strategy on plastics, a major contributor to litter. “We need to think about the cost of measures and the cost of not doing anything. Clean-up costs have an impact on our economies. The economic viability of the measures is important. To turn something that has to be done into profits, there has to be investment and innovation”, he said.
Ministers were asked whether they thought the EU’s new plastics strategy should cover the whole of the plastics life cycle, from production to disposal. They felt that it should. Furthermore, all suggested that action taken to tackle this scourge could provide fresh economic opportunities.
In Herrera’s view, the discussion had been valuable for the above two reasons and also in view of the will expressed by the ministers to beef up efforts against marine litter through better management and through prevention.
Between now and 2050, if nothing is done, there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish. Some 80% of marine litter is plastics made on land, such as plastic bags and cotton buds, highlighted Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella, delighted at the firm ideas put forward by ministers for the management of plastics – micro- and macro-plastics – throughout their life cycle.
Giving assurances that the plastics strategy would be brought forward by the European Commission “before then end of the year”, as provided for in the action plan on the circular economy, he said that it would examine possible action, regulatory and non-regulatory, including how to regulate the problem of micro-plastics, from, for example, textiles, tyres and cosmetics.
It will tackle the issue of manufacturers’ responsibility, assess the directive on single-use plastic bags published in January last, and take stock of progress in reducing the volume of this kind of litter on beaches. “We must go beyond this to follow up on the litter below and on the surface”, the commissioner said.
He added that maritime transport had to lead by example, stating that, in future, sorted waste would have to be collected on arrival in port, under the terms of the port facilities directive.
German State Secretary for the Environment Jochen Fasbarth stated that marine litter was a very important issue which Germany had raised at the G7 and one which had been followed up by Italy. He said, it is a matter that is now being discussed by the G20, because “marine litter is a global problem”.
His Luxembourg counterpart Carole Dieschbourg made the point: “Luxembourg is a landlocked country but we are a member of the Ospar Convention because water connects us all. Protecting our oceans is protecting our basic needs”, highlighting the all that the oceans bring in terms of producing food and ecosystems and the role they play in the fight against climate change. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)