The plastics life cycle

The plastics life cycle includes extraction of raw materials; design and production; packaging and distribution; use and maintenance; and recycling, reuse, recovery or final…

Global plastics production and consumption, 1910-2018

During World War II plastics production boomed. The war drove technological advances in the petrochemical industry, resulting in new cheap and flexible plastics used…

Major sources and sinks of microplastics and marine litter

Marine litter and plastic pollution come mainly from landbased sources (UNEP 2018e; IRP 2019; van Truong et al. 2019) including agriculture, building and construction,…

Global plastic production, accumulation and future trends

Global cumulative production of plastics since 1950 is forecast to grow from 9.2 billion tons in 2017 to 34 billion tons by 2050 (Geyer…

Timeline for global marine litter and plastic initiatives, law and policies B

A number of international binding agreements/conventions, protocols, initiatives and cooperation processes, such as the Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML) provide a foundation for…

Timeline for global marine litter and plastic initiatives, law and policies A

A number of international binding agreements/conventions, protocols, initiatives and cooperation processes, such as the Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML) provide a foundation for…

A selection of data coordination, collection, repository and portal initiatives

There are currently 15 major operational monitoring programmes, in different geographical ranges, linked to three types of activity: marine litter action coordination, data collection…

Natural processes affecting the distribution and fate of microplastics

Once litter and microplastics have entered the marine environment, their movement is controlled by ocean tides, currents, waves and winds. In coastal areas tides…

Fisheries and aquaculture practices contributing to marine litter and plastic pollution B

Fisheries-related debris is the largest single category by volume found in beach litter. In Europe, based on numerous surveys, fisheries is estimated to contribute…

Fisheries and aquaculture practices contributing to marine litter and plastic pollution A

Marine litter from sea-based activities arises from multiple sources (GESAMP 2015; GESAMP 2020b), for example, all affordable, lightweight and durable maritime equipment is made…

Agricultural practices contributing to marine litter and plastic pollution

Primary microplastics can be the result of leakage from production facilities and accidental losses of plastic pellets during transport (Karlsson et al. 2018) while…

Major sources and pathways of human-generated plastic litter A

Marine litter comes mainly from land-based sources, including agriculture, wastewater treatment plants, construction, transportation, unnecessary, avoidable and problematic plastic products and polymers, and a…