The Green Expedition of Mana Jūra (My Sea) campaign has ended, and results of the 2023 summer monitoring of marine litter are summarised. During the 30-day, 500-kilometre coastal expedition, 44 waste monitoring missions were performed involving more than 400 participants of day phases. Latvia's seashore became cleaner by 16,481 units.
This year, significant improvements have been made with the adoption of a new data recording protocol, which provides more opportunities for more accurate data collection and analysis. The data compilation therefore records 180 waste types instead of the previous 80, and the total results statistics now also include all smoking waste data (in the previous UNEP/IOC/MARLIN protocol, smoking waste load was depicted from a 10 metre transect, while other types of waste - from 100 metres). With the new corrections to the data recording, the overall situation of Latvia's seashore is critical, falling well short of the European Union's Good Marine Environmental Status (GMES) target of no more than 20 litter items per 100 beach metres.
According to the updated JRC/J-Code/Masterlist protocol and methodology, results of the "My Sea" marine litter monitoring in 2023 indicate that on average 375 items of litter are found in every 100 metres of beach area and on average 35 different types of litter are found on every beach.
"This year marked a change for the campaign and the start of a new cycle of work. We are delighted to be among the first Baltic Sea countries to introduce the new Marine Pollutant Waste (MPW) monitoring methodology, which will certainly provide opportunities for more accurate data acquisition and analysis. Of course, results on the cleanliness of our coastline are still disappointing and raise many questions about the lack of management, prevention and education measures, but also provide insights into the state of environmental policy and the improvements needed. On the other hand, we would also like to share some positive findings: both in the beach monitoring and in the additional coastal surveys, we can see that the introduction of the deposit system is definitely yielding first results in terms of environmental cleanliness. I am also hopeful that we will see an improvement of situation in the coming years. This is confirmed by the data already collected this year, and the first European-level restrictions on single-use plastics are having an impact", says Mr Jānis Ulme, Head of the Environmental Education Foundation and “Mana jūra” (My Sea) Programme.
Of the total volume of waste, assessment of the percentage of materials on the seashore shows that 75.7% consist of various plastics and polymers, followed by paper and cardboard (7%), metal (6.7%), glass and ceramics, food waste, wood, rubber, textiles and clothing, chemicals. Whereas, the top waste types are smoking waste (32.2%), unidentifiable plastics (10.6%), plastic food packaging (8.9%) and identifiable paper and cardboard (5.3%). Of the 15 types of litter mostly found along the seashore, 9 are plastic.
In terms of municipalities, the most polluted beaches this season are in Jūrmala city (734 litter items per 100 beach metres), while the cleanest - in Talsi Municipality (152 litter items per 100 beach metres). In terms of individual beaches, only five Latvian beaches remain on this year's list of the cleanest beaches along Latvia's almost 500 kilometres of coastline, although none of them achieves the EU GMES status. Tukums Municipality Engure centre beach (49 litter items per 100 metres), followed by Lauči stone beach (53 items), Miķeļtornis beach (55 items) and Mazirbe beach (67 items). The list of the cleanest beaches is closed by the Ventspils city Staldzene Beach (75 items).
The most polluted individual beach this year is Daugavgrīva beach in Riga, with 1,352 litter items per 100 metres. The list of the dirtiest beaches also includes Majori beach (1,098 items), Liepāja centre beach (950 items), Saulkrasti centre beach (890 items), Apšuciems (879 items), Liepāja Karosta (873 items), Jūrmala Lielupe (762 items), Oviši (736 items) and Vecāķi beach (673 items).
"Although tobacco waste (cigarette butts) is still the most polluting litter item, however, from the viewpoint of a producer responsibility scheme company we can see that there is also a positive development in this area", says Ms Aija Caune, Project Manager at the LLC (SIA) “Zaļā josta”. On 5 January this year, new Cabinet Regulations on the establishment and application of the extended producer responsibility system for plastic-containing products came into force, including the launch of the extended producer responsibility (EPR) system for tobacco products, which could be an important step towards tackling the problem of litter in Latvia.
Manufacturers will have to take responsibility for the collection and management of the environmental pollution caused by tobacco filters, contracting with all the municipalities to provide this service. Although the implementation of the system has already begun, there is a need to work together to find the most effective national and local solutions to this problem, to improve the smoking waste infrastructure, to promote public education and to improve the funding model for the EPR system in such a way that funding is used for activities that deliver the best results. "In the view of the LLC (SIA) "Zaļā josta", public education actions in this area can be even more effective than waste management measures, because actions aimed at preventing waste from entering the environment at all are more effective than dealing with the consequences", believes A. Caune.
''This summer, ten beaches along the Baltic Sea coast have been equipped with visually appealing information boards with the slogan "Don't lie in the garbage!" to draw public attention to the problem of beach littering and its consequences for wildlife. It should be remembered that local governments also have a role to play in working with citizens educating them and involving them in creation of a cleaner environment. Local authorities can also impose stricter controls on beach and coastal areas, restrictions on the use of plastics in commercial sites and events, and improvements to beach and coastal areas. We call to use the already developed design of the information stands for making the public aware to create a unified story that will remain in memory", calls Alise Vecozola, Head of the LIFE Integrated Project Implementation Division at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development.
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