“Plastic Pollution Coalition is a global alliance of individuals, organizations and businesses working together to stop plastic pollution and its toxic impacts on humans, animals, the ocean and the environment, through education, social media and outreach and tools.
With its work, Plastic Pollution seeks to put plastic pollution at the forefront of global social, environmental and political discourse and to encourage the world to reduce its plastic footprint by choosing more sustainable and reusable materials and by reducing the use of disposable plastics.”
“The volume of plastic pollution in the ocean is expanding at a catastrophic rate. Disposable plastics are the main source of plastic pollution. Plastics poison our food chain and plastic is forever. Sadly, plastic recycling is only a small part of the solution. We must resolve to refuse disposable plastics. Plastic Pollution Coalition supports the Global Ocean Commission and Mission Ocean through positive change, solutions and alternatives and by supporting viral behavior change through education and awareness and community building to address the global plastic pollution crisis on land and in the ocean. Plastic Pollution Coalition aims to end the global dependence on disposable plastic, the primary source of plastic pollution, and to reduce the overall global plastic footprint for individuals, businesses and organizations. Achieving these strategic goals requires collaboration on a global scale between individuals, organizations, businesses and policy-makers to raise awareness and improve understanding of the complex problem of plastic pollution; to create solutions; and to pursue these solutions relentlessly, with a sense urgency.”
Setting time-bound plastic reduction targets while creating incentives to promote recycling and producer responsibility. Restricting or banning certain unsustainable uses, encouraging substitute materials and better recycling systems.
Plastics are a major source of pollution on the high seas and constitute a health threat to both people and the environment. Debris entangles or suffocates seabirds, turtles and marine mammals, and plastic microparticles bio-accumulate, poisoning fish and entering the food chain.
Over 80% of the plastics found in the ocean come from the land, reflecting very poor and irresponsible waste management. However, political and regulatory action is lacking and consumers are not sufficiently aware of the problem.
World plastics production is estimated to increase by over 100 times based on 2010 production levels, from 270 million in 2010 to 33 billion in 2050, a percentage of which will end up in the ocean unless preventative action is taken.
Once it is in the ocean, plastic is very hard to remove, therefore the Commission is calling for coordinated action by governments, the private sector and civil society to stop plastics entering the ocean in the first place. Proposed actions include:
Establishing time-bound quantitative reduction targets;
Creating incentives to promote recycling and extend producer responsibility.
Restricting or banning certain unsustainable uses (e.g. disposable plastic bags and polyurethane packaging);
Encouraging the promotion and innovation of substitute materials and better recycling systems;
Increasing consumer awareness.
The Commission is also concerned about plastics pollution from sea-based sources, notably the problem of lost and abandoned fishing gear. Tens of thousands of fish aggregation devices (FADs) are used by the tuna fishing industry alone; many of them are eventually discarded or lost at sea.
The Commission proposes that all deployed FADs be documented, and that each new FAD from now on be made up of natural fibres and equipped with a tracking device. To discourage their abandonment at sea, the Commission also calls for port disposal programmes that encourage the safe, cost-effective disposal of used fishing gear. The use of natural biodegradable materials in fishing gear should also be promoted.