Government officials... or maybe not

As I referred to surfing entrepreneurs in my opening blog post, I also mentioned government officials as a possible source of solutions. It is certainly the case that some policies can be adopted to help mitigate the problem of marine pollution, such as the proposed ban on microbeads in cosmetics. Furthermore, regulations on the use of harmful substances, such as pesticides, can be applied to try and reduce the effect of chemical pollution in coastal areas. And so it is in this way that governments can be an effective way of addressing the issue of marine pollution. However, when it comes to other sources of waste, or the clean up of that which has already made it to sea, it is a seemingly more difficult area. Plastics and other debris are accumulating in 5 ocean gyres around the world, and these span international waters. So, with which country does the responsibility lie to get out there and clean it all up? That's the dilemma. The video below, produced by NASA, shows exactly how this waste is accumulating all over the world - ignore the questionable pronunciation of 'buoy'.

The problem surrounding governance is something pointed out by Visbeck et al. (2014), who note the shortcomings of international law regarding the regulatory structure set out across the ocean. This has led to calls being made for governments to develop and agree on new sustainable development goals concerning the condition of the ocean. However, the lack of such an arrangement thus far is what has spurred independent organisations on to take the lead in exploring possible solutions. Cleaning up the vast expanse of the ocean may be a daunting task, but reducing the current input is certainly manageable, and might well be the most feasible answer. 'Garbage tracking' studies carried out by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology propose one potential starting point. These involve the tracking of waste to see both the journey it takes, and where it eventually accumulates. This particular study is used to gather information about the current management of waste in the US, in a bid to use that information to influence the way people recycle. However, Sigler (2014) notes how this could be an effective technique to use on marine plastics - following their journey to identify the areas most vulnerable to them.

Another tracking-based method involves the use of potentially millions of fieldwork assistants... us! Yes, that could include you. This particular initiative involves anyone and everyone who comes across waste, either at the coast or throughout waterways, checking-in their location when they do so. It is referred to as the Marine Debris Tracker mobile application, and is the product of a combined effort by the NOAA Marine Debris Program and the Southeast Atlantic Marine Debris Initiative. This method facilitates the constant collection of data, including the location, and type, of marine debris that people are finding. This allows for what could be an extremely detailed observation of exactly where the debris seems to be concentrating. Studies showed this method to have accounted for the tracking of over 400,000 items... and that was a year ago. Whilst this does not necessarily involve any official clean up component, establishing the location of the waste is a necessary start.

Marine Debris Tracker app (Source)

In my 'How does it get there' post, I acknowledged how developing countries are responsible for a considerable amount of waste input into the sea. This is due to the fact that many of them are host to rapidly growing economies and populations. This in turn has given rise to an increasing consumption of goods, without the appropriate waste management infrastructure to cope. This is not to lay the blame on these countries, but to simply point out that they pose a problem that needs addressing. The UN has identified education as a key component of helping improve the management of waste in these countries - teaching the public the importance of appropriate garbage disposal. It is proposed that officials can then be put in place to monitor this in the long run. 

Promisingly, studies have suggested that the sustainable management of waste is a very feasible possibility for developing countries. This is based on the concept of Integrated Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM). In many developing nations, people can benefit economically from waste, and these people would be referred to as stakeholders in this case. The municipality in this scenario is responsible for the cleanliness of the city, as well as the citizens inhabiting it. In short, ISWM attempts to unify all stakeholders in both financial and environmental interests, under the guidance of the municipality. The studies proposed that ISWM is a method which has seen the improvement of both the controlled disposal of waste as well as recycling.

Today I have explored some possible means by which we might reduce the input of waste into the sea. As mentioned previously, going out into the ocean to try and tackle the vast volume of debris that has already accumulated there seems a daunting task. The ocean is over 350 million square kilometres in size, not to mention the 5 trillion pieces of trash that are estimated to be floating around in it. However, next up in my blog I will explore what very well could be a way of cleaning up the ocean. Daunting as it may be, there is a whole lot of waste posing a threat to the wildlife and ecosystems already out there, so getting rid of that could well be as important as stopping additional inputs.