News Marine Litter

01.06.2023

Researchers at the University of Leipzig have discovered an enzyme that breaks down PET in record time. It has been known for some time that some enzymes, so-called polyester-cleaving hydrolases, can also degrade PET. But until now, the degradation process took too long to be of interest for commercial use. The research team has now discovered a "candidate" with which, for example, PET packaging from the supermarket should be completely degradable in less than a day.

01.06.2023

In a citizen science project, participants of Arctic trips collected litter on the beaches of Spitzbergen for a scientific survey. The origin and composition of the collected plastic debris were analysed by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research. According to the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, one third of the clearly identifiable plastic litter comes from Europe and some of it also from Germany.

01.06.2023

During an intergovernmental conference in New York at the beginning of March, the international community agreed on a new treaty to protect the world's oceans. For the first time, binding rules for marine areas beyond national jurisdiction are to be made possible: Marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments and other measures are to better protect threatened species and habitats in the future. During the negotiations, Germany, together with the EU, had pushed for an ambitious treaty.

01.06.2023

The Oceans and Fisheries Working Group (OFWG) of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has published a guide to provide smaller cities and municipalities in the Asia-Pacific economic region with the knowledge to set up reliable waste collection systems to help reduce the land-sourced discharge of waste into the oceans. Using successful projects, the guide aims to show how waste can be collected and recycled at source very efficiently and cost-effectively using technologically simple means. WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature, was also involved in an exemplary pilot project in the Vietnamese city of Tan An.

01.06.2023

Dr. Bernhard Bauske has been active in the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Germany since 1993 and has been Project Coordinator for "Marine Litter" in the Marine Conservation department since 2017. His work focuses on coordinating projects to reduce plastic waste, improving waste management systems and packaging design. Before joining WWF, the biologist completed his doctorate at the Institute of Soil Science in Hamburg.

01.06.2023

The EU is contributing around eight million euros to the "SeaClear2.0" project, with which a group of European scientists aims to combat marine pollution among other things with the help of an autonomous robot system. The four-year project will involve three major pilot tests in the Mediterranean Sea before the autonomous system is deployed.

01.06.2023

According to reports from "The Ocean Cleanup", participants in the project carried out by the Dutch initiative that was launched ten years ago are now preparing to introduce a new system for cleaning the oceans of plastic waste. It will reportedly be three times larger than the "System 002" used so far. The floating barrier, which will then be nearly two and a half kilometres long, is designed to remove waste from the water more efficiently – above all in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

27.02.2023

As part of its focus on "Plastics in the Environment", the BKV intends in 2023 to continue working on the topic of pellet losses. In doing so, the BKV will follow on from its "Special report on pellet losses", which was published in 2022 and presents for the first time a volume-related estimate of the pellets discharged into the environment in Germany. The findings are now to be deepened and extended in cooperation with the plastics value chain, including the recyclers. The aim is to derive measures from this that the companies can apply and implement in order to prevent pellets being discharged into the environment. To support this, the findings are also to be made usable for national and European standardisation work.

27.02.2023

In a recent study conducted by Tel Aviv University in collaboration with the Israeli Research Centre for the Mediterranean Sea, a research team investigated the extent of microplastic pollution along the Israeli coast. The scientists collected sand samples from six beaches between Haifa and Ashkelon. According to the study, the Israeli coastline is polluted with more than two tons of microplastics, with Tel Aviv and Hadera beaches said to be the worst affected.

27.02.2023

A research team from the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) has, in a study carried out with partners from the Netherlands and Australia, examined conventional assumptions as to what quantity of plastic waste is present in rivers, and how this plastic litter is further transported. According to their results, the quantity of plastic litter actually present in rivers could be up to 90 percent larger than previously assumed. The new findings from the study should help to improve the monitoring of plastic litter in rivers and to remove it from the waterways.