Three studies on ocean plastic waste newly were published in the Nature Sustainability journal last month, providing a greater understanding of the type and source of plastic in our oceans.
The findings from these papers are discussed in our recent Ocean Protect Podcast episode “Ocean trash with Jeremy & Brad”, including:
- Approximately 79% of ocean plastic is from land-based sources (and stormwater would be the key transport mechanism for this plastic entering our oceans)
- Single-use plastics are the key items found in near-shore environments
This further highlights the need for urgent action on stopping plastic pollution and preventing it from flowing into downstream waterways and oceans via stormwater. Stormwater NSW and Ocean Protect’s Zero Litter to Ocean strategy provides a highly scalable, shovel ready, job-creating and effective plan on how this can be done in Australia.
The aforementioned studies are:
- Carmen Morales-Caselles et al, An inshore–offshore sorting system revealed from global classification of ocean litter, 10 June 2021, Nature sustainability, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00720-8
- Nikoleta Bellou el, Global assessment of innovative solutions to tackle marine litter, 10 June 2021, Nature sustainability, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00726-2
Daniel González-Fernández et al, Floating macrolitter leaked from Europe into the ocean, 10 June 2021, Nature sustainability, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00722-6