Since June 2019, the Ministry for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning, (MECP) has directed its efforts towards combating marine litter through the ‘Saving Our Blue’ campaign, with the aim to further educate and encourage the public to stop littering, reduce waste generation, and opt for alternative products to single-use items.
Each year, tons of plastic end up in the oceans, constituting almost 60 to 90 percent of the litter that accumulates on shorelines, the sea surface and the sea floor. The most common items being cigarette butts, bags, remains of fishing gear, and food and beverage containers. In this regard negative effects are considered very severe since marine litter harms all the marine species, it impacts coastal economies, and can enter the human food chain through fish consumption.
In the last two decades, the rapid increase of microbeads and single-use plastics has exacerbated the problem, and unless action is taken now, our seas will be ruined by plastic debris emanating from human consumption. If no action is taken, by 2050 there could be more plastic than fish in the oceans.
The ‘Saving Our Blue’ campaign seeks to address the main causes of the problem through:
i) educating and engaging citizens,
ii) collaborating with NGOs and the private sector,
iii) promoting a unified call to action that can support national movements to influence change.