In April 2022, when speaking about the challenge of plastic pollution in oceans, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Assistant Administrator Jane Nishida said, “the vast majority of the plastic trash entering our oceans is due to inadequate waste management.” While common refrain points to photos of plastic pollution—like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP)—and places blame on single-use plastics, these talking points are downright misleading.
In reality, the primary challenge for ocean pollution and marine debris is that of lost fishing gear. While previous assessments have portrayed developing coastal economies and rivers as major contributors to oceanic plastic pollution, a 2022 study published in Scientific Reports found that most oceanic plastic in the GPGP, a collection of marine pollution in the North Pacific Ocean, can be directly traced back to fishing activities in industrialized countries—not to consumer use of plastic.
Marine debris is a serious environmental concern, and addressing it will require fact-based solutions, not deflection or false narratives. After conducting offshore tests in the GPGP, The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch non-profit organization developing and scaling technologies to remove floating plastics from the ocean, found that the measurement of offshore oceanic plastic pollution, such as lost fishing gear, has been historically underestimated. A new study attributes this underestimation to the misinterpretation of an initial study dating back to the 1970s that has since been repeatedly cited.
The Ocean Cleanup analyzed over 1,200 pounds of debris from the GPGP using modern technology and ran simulations to determine the origin of waste collected during offshore tests. The organization found that the largest single source of debris in the GPGP is “ghost gear,” a term used to describe abandoned and lost fishing gear that make up nearly 50 percent of marine litter. Ghost gear represents 75 to 86 percent of plastics found in the GPGP, is the single largest contributor to plastic pollution in the ocean and primarily originates from fishing activities in the United States, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Russia. These findings emphasize the significance of critically evaluating the challenge of environmental waste from all perspectives and the role different stakeholders can play in making our oceans waste-free.
Projects designed to reduce flows of lost, discarded or abandoned fishing nets, fish aggregating devices (FADs), long lines and other fishing gear in the ocean will be critical in the fight to address marine debris. The Global Ghost Gear Initiative is a cross-stakeholder alliance that is already working to combat the impact of lost and abandoned fishing gear by implementing best practices and policies to prevent and remediate ghost gear in the environment. Additionally, responsible investments in recycling infrastructure, including advanced recycling facilities, can help curb marine debris.
Increased investment in innovative technologies to capture, repurpose, reprocess and reuse post-consumer plastics can help reduce plastic pollution in the marine environment and simultaneously deter the loss of valuable material. In fact, post-consumer plastic packaging that ends up in the trash amounts to about $80 to $120 billion each year. This number can be drastically decreased through investments in a circular economy.
New research and development initiatives spearheaded by the plastics industry to process complex plastics are helping ensure that all plastic can be reused or recycled. As of January 2022, Eastman Chemical Company announced plans to invest up to $1 billion to construct the world’s largest molecular plastics recycling facility in France. Over the last few years, ExxonMobil and Shell have been developing innovative advanced recycling programs, which process complex plastics like wrappers and detergent bottles, that can keep more plastic out of landfills and out of the ocean. In 2019, Shell announced a new process that breaks down complex and multilayered plastics back into their original polymers, so it can be used to produce new plastics.
Innovative investments like these extend the lifecycle of plastic materials and ensure waste is properly managed to remain in the economy and out of our ecosystems. However, the goal of eliminating marine litter won’t be accomplished by the plastics industry alone. It takes all of us to find real solutions to the environmental challenges we face.
Plastic waste in our oceans is an international concern—which is exactly why the plastics industry has tackled oceanic waste head-on and dedicated billions of dollars to innovation and advocacy aimed at reducing plastics in the ocean. Moreover, the efforts don’t stop there. The plastics industry has also engaged with and supported bipartisan policy efforts like Save Our Seas 2.0, signed into law in 2020, which enhances international engagement and improves domestic infrastructure to reduce plastic waste.
Another productive piece of legislation is the Realizing the Economic Opportunities and Value of Expanding Recycling (RECOVER) Act, which would allocate federal grants to states and municipalities to invest in recycling programs and new technologies to increase collection rates and promote consumer education. The EPA has also committed around $350 million to upgrade recycling infrastructure and improve education on plastic waste pollution. With more funding and support of advanced recycling and infrastructure building, marine pollution challenges can be solved.
These efforts also extend abroad. In 2020, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation launched its $2.5 billion Ocean Plastic Initiative, a testament to the importance of private investment in developing waste management and recycling infrastructure. The international Trash Free Waters initiative outlines EPA’s approach to a multi-tier stakeholder solution to address marine debris, serving as a model for countries to address the challenges of oceanic pollution and improve waste stream management. Integrated efforts between industry actors and governments are critical to mitigating plastic waste in the ocean and reiterating the importance of stakeholder collaboration to strengthen waste management systems around the world.