The German and Austrian plastics industry has put forward a model that registers marine litter. The method is supposed to provide reliable data on the origins of the oceanic waste and its underlying cause. The approach, called "From land to sea – a model for registering land-based plastic waste” was developed by Consultic Marketing & Industrieberatung (Alzenau / Germany; www.consultic.com) at the behest of Germany’s BKV (Frankfurt; www.bkv-gmbh.de), packaging producers’ association Industrievereingung Kuntstoffverpackungen (IK, Bad Homburg / Germany; www.kunststoffverpackungen.de), the Association of the Austrian Chemistry (FCIO, Vienna / Austria; www.fcio.at) and the German association for plastics and rubber machinery VDMA Kunststoff- und Gummimaschinen (KuG, Frankfurt; http://kug.vdma.org). The project is supported by PlasticsEurope Deutschland (Frankfurt / Germany; www.plasticseurope.de).

The associations estimate that about 80% of marine litter enters the oceans from onshore, including a range of used plastic products. The new model aims to start systematically registering this waste. The method used takes account both of plastic waste – called macro-plastics – as well as micro-plastics, consisting of small and minute particles. To gain more insight into the main onshore roots of marine litter, the model differentiates between waste that enters the ocean from surface waters, including rivers, as well as litter from coastal regions, including beaches and ports. Taking account of European statistics based on the “Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics” (NUTS) system, the calculation also takes note of the population density and socioeconomic data of the regions examined. In so doing, the associations hope to gain more insights into waste generation with respect to its particular origin.

The method is currently being trialled in the German North Sea. Thanks to its open structure, it is theoretically possible to apply the model to other oceans, including the Baltic Sea, and to add other waste entrance paths. As part of the North Sea examination, the research will also take account of and evaluate data and studies released by German and Austrian environmental authorities, associations, wastewater treatment plant operators, international R&D associations, statistics offices as well as consultancies. Initial results indicate that most of the plastic waste in the North Sea comes from improperly disposed of waste and consists mainly of macro-plastic, BKV says. The main entrance ways for the waste, accounting for about 80% of the total, are rivers and the region’s coastline. The remaining 20% is generated by stream navigation and port activities. In the project’s next step, the knowledge gained so far is to be validated and built upon by the steady addition of new data. This process will also involve an examination of the model’s parameters and – if necessary – their modification. External experts will help evaluate the method’s validity.