News Marine Litter

05.12.2022

According to the scientific findings of a group of researchers led by fisheries ecologist Jörn Scharsack from the Thünen Institute in Bremerhaven, the quantities of microplastics ingested by fish in the North Sea and Baltic Sea do not lead to adverse effects on fish health. According to the scientists, eating fish from the two seas also does not pose a health risk to humans in this respect

05.12.2022

The larvae of a beetle species native to Central and South America can apparently survive with the plastic polystyrene as their only food source and even gain weight by ingesting it. This was the finding of a new study by the Australian University of Queensland, published in the journal Microbial Genomics. The researchers were able to demonstrate that the larvae of the species Zophobas morio (large black beetle), known as "superworms," are able to digest polystyrene (PS) thanks to the microbes in their intestines.

05.12.2022

Since 2012, Ms. Bergmann has been working intensively on the pollution of the oceans with plastics, has published extensively on this topic, among others, the book "Marine Anthropogenic Litter". Furthermore, she is a member of several expert groups - including the German delegation for negotiating the UN Plastics Treaty - and coordinates the international MICRO symposia on microplastics. At AWI, she is involved in the development of new methods for measuring plastic litter and microplastics in the seas, and also works on studies about the effects of plastic residues on organisms. Against this professional background, we asked Ms. Bergmann for her assessment of the results of the study by the Thünen Institute for Fisheries Ecology (see the report "Microplastics not harmful to fish").

05.12.2022

The river cleaning project "Bekasi River Cleanup" (BRIC) was launched in Indonesia in 2019 by the Schwarz Group together with the environmental organisation One Earth - One Ocean, plus a local waste disposal company, and with the support of the authorities in Bekasi. BRIC, was set up as a "REmove" project as part of the Group-wide sustainability strategy, and has now, according to the Schwarz Group, been developed to the point where it can be handed over to local stakeholders.

05.12.2022

On behalf of the European Parliament, the EU Commission is preparing a ban on intentionally added microplastics as part of the EU Plastics Strategy and the EU Action Plan "Pollutant-free air, water and soil". Such polymers are added to cosmetic and cleaning products, for example in the form of small beads with an abrasive effect, and are also found among other things in paints, varnishes or artificial turf fillings.

05.12.2022

At the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi in March, it was agreed to start negotiations on an international legally binding instrument against plastic pollution of the environment. To drive implementation of the UNEA resolution, a group of countries including Germany initiated the international “High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution” (HAC) at the end of August.

05.12.2022

Since September 2022, the litter trap of the Cologne-based non-profit association K.R.A.K.E has been floating on the River Rhine at kilometre 690.3 near the Zoobrücke bridge, where it fishes waste out of the Rhine. One of the sponsors of the so-called "Rheinkrake" is plastics specialist, Igus.

09.09.2022

For some years now, the plastics industry in Europe has been striving to avoid pellet losses by launching a number of different programs. With the "Special report on pellet losses", which is now available as a supplement to the "From Land to Sea" and "Plastics in the Environment" models, a comprehensive investigation on pellet losses along the entire value chain has now been compiled for the first time in Germany. Pellet losses can occur during the production, processing and recycling of plastics and also during transport. The special report compiled by Conversio on behalf of the BKV, also provides information on how many pellets are discharged into the terrestrial and aquatic environments via the respective potential discharge sources at these stages in the value chain.

09.09.2022

Although the Arctic has a very low population, it has, according to an international overview study from the Alfred-Wegener Institute (AWI), a similar amount of plastic pollution as other regions of the world. The study was published in the specialist magazine "Nature Reviews and Environment Research". According to the report, the research results show that plastic litter is discharged into the sea and to the Arctic for example via rivers, the air and shipping. Shipping in particular is an important discharge source. The waters of the Arctic, the sea floor, beaches, rivers and ice and snow are, according to the study, being increasingly polluted by microplastic.

08.09.2022

According to an interdisciplinary pilot study headed by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) and the German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam (GFZ), birch trees could help to remediate soil contaminated with microplastic. In the journal "Science of the Total Environment", the research team reports that, during the growth phase, the trees filter microplastic from the water in their vicinity and can store it in their roots.