Plastic bag fee contributed to drastic decline in marine litter, finds report

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The ‘Great British Beach Clean 2016 Report’ released by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) states that imposition of charge for single-use plastic carrier bags has led to significant drop in plastic marine litter. The report suggests considerable decline in the number of plastic bags carelessly thrown away by consumers, thanks to the charges at checkouts introduced on them. The study report further states that introduction of charges by all UK home nations has led to drastic drop in plastic bag usage and litter, thereby causing less damage to marine environment.

According to MCS Beachwatch manager Lauren Eyles, there has been a huge drop in the number of plastic bags collected during coastal cleanup over the past decade. Before, Great British Beach Clean volunteers had reported nearly 10 single use plastic carrier bags in every 100 metres of coastline cleaned. However, that number has reduced sharply since the introduction of charges. This clearly indicates that the introduction of fees on plastic bags by home nations has created positive impact on marine life. Eyles thanked all volunteers who took part in the cleanup campaign.

Nearly 6,000 volunteers were involved in the over the weekend cleanup operation during September this year, covering almost 364 beaches around the UK. The MCS beach cleaners picked up 268,384 individual pieces of plastic during the operation. Although the number is still high, the number of plastic bags collected has gone down by almost 40% when matched with the previous year.

Among regions, the North West England region reported the greatest year-on-year reduction of 67% in the number of plastic bags found along 100-metre long stretches of coastline. The South West region reported 63% decline, whereas the South East recorded yearly decline of 51%. Also, Wales, where plastic bag fees is in place for five years now, witnessed nearly 33% decline in littered bags. On the other hand, Scotland, which introduced bag charges in 2014, reported 10% decline in plastic bag litter.

At the same time, the amount of balloon-related litter surged higher by almost 50% when compared with 2015. The number of drinks containers, caps and lids too were 4% higher than the previous year. MCS highlighted the need for campaigns similar to Scotland’s 'Have you Got the Bottle' campaign to be introduced across the whole of UK. It also plans to roll out a social media campaign to improve awareness among customers. Also, the number of wet wipes has reported nearly seven-fold increase over the past decade.

Recently, more number of plastics industry associations had pledged to join the fight against marine litter by signing the Declaration of the Global Plastics Associations for Solutions on Marine Litter, also known as the Joint Declaration.

According to report released by the United Nations, marine debris, mainly comprised of plastics, causes significant threat to marine life and huge economic loss to many world countries. As per the report, the number of species affected by marine debris has increased from 663 in 2012 to as high as 817.