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80% of all debris in water comes from land.
Keep Sweden clean produced a report to see where the debris in the oceans comes from. But what we already know is that most of it is plastic.
Marine littering has socio-economic costs when people don't want to be on beaches that look like a garbage dump. Then keep in mind that barely 20% is washed up on land. The worst is for animals that live in the water and accidentally do not eat biological material, which often kills them.
Plastic has the advantage when produced that it has low weight, high durability and the material breaks down very slowly. The same properties become devastating when plastic comes into our water systems. It is transported far for a long time but does not disappear but breaks up into smaller fractions.
How are we going to solve this?
The short answer is: stop the debris from getting into the water.
The long-term answer is: Start the circular economy where everything goes back to becoming a new product and unnecessary packaging is out phased. It is long processes to change the way we produce and consume. The quick solution is: to change people's attitude and actions and get them to take the rubbish and throw it away.
The quick solution works if there is collection large enough, emptied regularly and what is thrown stays in the collection system and is not picked or blown out. But the collection must work along all lakes and streams because plastic is transported in the waterborne system far and for a long time. It is not only coastal municipalities that are affected. There is now more Micro More microplastics in Lake Vättern than the Baltic Sea.
One suggestion for a quick solution to reduce littering in the oceans is to have a zone of 100 meters from all water surfaces, where all plastic and other materials are collected in closed containers.
Read more about littering in lakes and seas:
More microplastics in Lake Vättern than the Baltic Sea
http://miljoaktuellt.se/mer-mikroplast-i-vattern-an-ostersjon/
Marine Littering and Sources in Nordic Waters
http://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:814721/FULLTEXT02.pdf[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
