FanpLESStic-sea 2019. Review of existing policies and research related to microplastics.

Abstract

The FanpLESStic-sea project – “Initiatives to remove microplastics before they enter the sea” started in January 2019. In addition to the project goals such as raising awareness and looking for solutions related to the issue of microplastics, the project will contribute to the implementation of several actions (RL4, RL6 and RL7) of the HELCOM Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter. Additional information on the project, including partnership and envisaged activities, can be found at the FanpLESStic-sea project and HELCOM websites. FanpLESStic-sea is an EU INTERREG funded Baltic Sea Region project aimed at decreasing and removing microplastics in the Baltic Sea, where HELCOM is one of the partners. The envisaged outputs of the project are: -- A model to map, understand and visualize microplastic pathways that will be applied to the partners’ cities and/or regions; -- Piloting of new technology i) for filtering out microplastics; ii) sustainable drainage solutions as means for removal of microplastics; and iii) to remove microplastics from stormwater; -- Defining innovative governance frameworks and engaging a large range of players for the implementation of coordinated and cost-efficient measures resulting in locally adapted investment proposals/plans for each partner’s region; and -- Dissemination of project results, including reports on barriers and ways forward, to increase institutional capacity on up-stream and problem-targeted methods to remove microplastics. This report is the output of Activity 2.1 of the project, which aims to review existing research and policies on microplastics. The report is divided into two sections. The first one (Part 1) is a review of existing policies and governance frameworks related to microplastics. The second part (Part 2) is a review of the existing research on microlitter, including microplastics. Both parts have been further divided into the following geographical levels: global, regional (referring to the Balti Sea region), EU and national. The data for the global, regional and EU levels has been acquired mainly by a literature review type exercise, whereas the data from the national level has been collected via survey. For this purpose, a questionnaire was prepared in SurveyMonkey to collect information on the current regulatory framework and research activities on microplastics in the frame of the FanpLESStic-sea project. The survey (Annex 2) was circulated to the project partners for further distribution to relevant national contacts as well as to the HELCOM Expert Network (EN-Marine Litter) for their voluntary contribution. Due to the abundance of data (research initiatives and projects) on microplastics globally, this report only highlights the few and most updated research review exercises, such as the comprehensive work done by the Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Protection (GESAMP) on microplastics. It is also worth mentioning that this report will not introduce the overall issue of microplastics in detail (sources, effects, occurrence, fate etc.) because this kind of work has already been done by many other groups, institutions and countries (UN, GESAMP, EU, IUCN, NGOs, Norway, Sweden and many others) and is not repeated here. Rather, the purpose is to review and make available the existing and ongoing microplastic related research, reports, initiatives and policies in each partner country, on EU level and globally. However, the glossary section defines some important terms that are frequently used in microplastics literature, research and policies and can hence be used as a quick reference and a knowledge bank. Finally, the document concludes with a discussion section aiming at providing food-for-thought on next steps to be taken to address microplastics in the Baltic Sea region.