Threat of marine litter to human health, food security, economy and environment

Threat of marine litter to human health, food security, economy and environment
Atty. Dennis Gorecho - October 13, 2024 https://palawan-news.com/threat-of-marine-litter-to-human-health-food-se...

Some 352,479 kilograms of trash and debris, ranging from plastics to other waste materials, were collected from 250 coastal sites across the country during the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) last September 21, 2024.

The ICC is the world’s largest volunteer effort for ocean health and is conducted every third Saturday of September each year to raise awareness about the impact of plastic pollution on marine life and ecosystems.

The ICC engages people in removing marine litter or trash from beaches, rivers, lakes, and waterways and in identifying and recording items collected on an Ocean Trash Data form.

This year’s ICC was part of the activities for the 29th National Seafarers’ Day (NSD) and the 25th National Maritime Week (NMW), with the theme “Marinong Filipino: Ligtas na Paglalayag,” spearheaded by Stella Maris Philippines and the Philippine Coast Guard.

Marine litter refers to any persistent, manufactured, or processed solid material discarded directly or indirectly into the sea, rivers, or onto beaches.

Marine litter poses threats to human health, food security, the economy, and the environment, including the degradation of marine and coastal habitats, ecosystems, and biodiversity.

A major source of pollution is single-use disposable plastics, which come in various forms such as straws, sachet packs, bags, cutlery, cups, and plastic bottles. These items are meant to be used only once before being discarded.

If there are no drastic interventions, by 2050, there will be more plastics than fish in the ocean.

Plastic bags take 10-20 years to decompose, while plastic bottles take 450 years.

These items tend to shrink into smaller pieces (called microplastics), which never fully decompose and return to the food cycle through ingestion by fish and other animals as “false food.” This leads to digestive failure, suffocation, starvation, drowning, and eventually death. Some animals become fatalities due to entanglement.

The Philippines, which disposes of 2.7 million tons of plastic per year, is considered the third-largest global contributor to the 8 million tons of plastics that are estimated to flood our oceans each year.

More than 163 million plastic sachet packets, as well as 48 million shopping bags and 45 million thin-film bags, are used and disposed of daily in the country.

The more visible manifestations of the problem caused by single-use plastics include the clogging of waterways and drainage systems, which contributes to floods.

Marine litter, specifically plastic pollution, was discussed by Von Hernandez of the Break Free From Plastic movement during one of my Amigos Marino online shows as part of the 2021 Earth Day celebration.

Hernandez echoed the call of environmental groups for the passage of a comprehensive Single-Use Plastic Ban as an essential policy tool to stop plastic pollution by shifting corporate dependence on throwaway packaging models to more sustainable reuse and refill systems.

“Single-use plastic is not a clean-up problem but a pollution problem,” Hernandez stressed, adding that the only way to prevent it is to stop its production and avoid using it in the first place.

“This means looking at plastic at the different stages of its life cycle, and not just treating it as a waste management or consumer responsibility issue, which is what the plastic industry wants,” he added.

Marine pollution, including the handling of garbage from ships, is addressed by Annex V regulations of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), as first drafted in 1973 and amended in 1978.

MARPOL seeks to ensure that the marine environment is preserved by eliminating pollution from all harmful substances that can be discharged from ships.

Annex V, which came into force on December 31, 1988, expressly prohibits all ships from discharging garbage, which includes all kinds of food, domestic and operational waste, plastics, cargo residues, incinerator ashes, cooking oil, fishing gear, and animal carcasses generated during the normal operation of the ship and liable to be disposed of continuously or periodically.

The most important feature of the Annex is the complete ban on the disposal into the sea of all forms of plastics, including but not limited to synthetic ropes, synthetic fishing nets, plastic garbage bags, and incinerator ashes from plastic products, which may contain toxic or heavy metal residues.

It specifies the distances from land at which materials may be disposed of and subdivides different types of garbage and marine debris.

The requirements are much stricter in a number of “special areas.”

There must be a garbage management plan, which is a complete guideline that comprises a written procedure for collecting, storing, processing, and disposing of garbage generated onboard ships.

Vessels are obliged to deposit plastic waste at reception facilities ashore, as port state signatories are required to provide adequate and appropriate reception facilities.