3 July was International Plastic Bag Free Day. Each year, more than 8 million tons of plastic ends up in the oceans, wreaking havoc on marine wildlife, fisheries and tourism, and costing at least $8 billion in damage to marine ecosystems. In the documentary movie, A Plastic Whale you will be astonished by the number of plastic bags contained in a whale’s stomach. Up to 80 per cent of all litter in our oceans is made of plastic, and more than 1 trillion plastic bags have been thrown away.
According to some estimates, the rate at which we are dumping items such as plastic bottles, bags and cups after a single use, by 2050 oceans will carry more plastic than fish and an estimated 99 per cent of seabirds will have ingested plastic.
In February 2017, NOWPAP called for participation in the global action #CleanSeas campaign. We need the support of all in refusing or reducing use of plastic bags.
Over the past decade, some countries in the NOWPAP region have either banned the free distribution of plastic bags or are making retailers charge a price for the bags. This follows NOWPAP initiatives to promote awareness of marine litter such as the publication of the booklet Recycling Plastic Marine Litter in 2007, the International Coastal Cleanup Campaigns organized annually since 2006 and the launch of the NOWPAP Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (RAP MALI) in 2008.
