In an article (link updated) published on February 16, 2017 the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) informed about two of its recent reports on marine litter in Europe. The reports were prepared by the Technical Group on Marine Litter (TG Marine Litter) established under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), which recognizes marine litter as a threat to marine ecosystems and human activities. The first report addresses riverine litter as a source of marine litter and makes recommendations to EU Member States on monitoring approaches and methodologies. The second report deals with the different sources of marine litter, presenting methodologies for source identification, in particular focusing on one approach that considers the possibility that specific items originate from multiple sources. The report addresses the issue of microplastics and illustrates, among others, different sources of food and beverage packaging items found in the marine environment.
Read more
JRC (February 23, 2017). “Tracking marine and riverine litter – New recommendations published.” (link updated)
References
González, D., et al. (2016). “Riverine litter monitoring – Options and recommendations. MSFD GES TG Marine Litter thematic report.” JRC Technical Reports EUR 28307 EN (pdf)
Veiga, J.M., et al. (2016). “Identifying sources of marine litter. MSFD GES TG Marine Litter thematic report.” JRC Technical Reports EUR 28309 EN (pdf)
