Marine debris is a major concern related to the accumulation of floating garbage that cannot be easily seen on satellites or spotted from far away. A major limitation that makes the eradication of the problem difficult is the fact that most of the debris contains microplastic (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2011). The small floating particles of plastic are hard to collect due to their size and difficult to prevent due to the wide use of plastic (da Costa et al., 2020). A solution is limiting the use of microplastic altogether to avoid polluting waters.
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) is the international agreement concerning regulations to prevent pollution facilitated by ships. Annex five, in particular, addresses the types of garbage, how they are to be disposed of, and specific materials that are not to be discarded in the water, including plastic (International Maritime Organization, 1988). The annex intends to limit pollution initiated by ships in particular and ultimately regulate the substances that are not to be in contact with water.
Other laws that can assist in a reduction of marine degrees include the Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act of 1994. The agreement addresses the topic of requiring garbage facilities at ports to have authorizations that are to be renewed every five years (US Congress, 1994). The act also addresses pollution from ships and helps regulate garbage disposal. An initiative that addresses the prevention of microbeads on the water is The Micro-bead Free Waters Act of 2015, which prohibits manufacturers from producing rinse-off products containing microbeads made of plastic (Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 2015). As a result, the legislative measures help address both the actual problem of accumulating marine debris as well as preventing microplastic from polluting waters altogether.
References
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. (2015). The microbead-free waters act. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Web.
da Costa, J. P., Mouneyrac, C., Costa, M., Duarte, A. C., & Rocha-Santos, T. (2020). The role of legislation, regulatory initiatives, and guidelines in the control of plastic pollution.Frontiers in Environmental Science, 8. Web.
International Maritime Organization. (1988). International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships (MARPOL). International Maritime Organization. Web.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2011). What We Know About: The “Garbage Patches.” NOAA Marine Debris Program.
US Congress. (1994). H.R.4668 – Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act of 1994. Congress. Web.