New federal action plan against marine litter

With this federal action plan, we must succeed in reducing the increase in litter,” said Minister of the North Sea Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD) on Tuesday. Litter, especially plastic, poses a threat to biodiversity in our oceans. Belgium has barely 67 kilometers of coast, but on our beaches there are an average of 137 pieces per hundred meters of high tide line. That is far above the limit of twenty per hundred meters that Europe uses. In the Belgian part of the North Sea there are an average of 3,875 pieces of floating litter per square kilometers.

In 2017, a first federal action plan for marine litter was drawn up. But an evaluation in 2021 showed that additional measures are needed. Minister Van Quickenborne and Minister of the Environment Zakia Khattabi (Ecolo) therefore worked out additional actions together with the FPS Public Health, in consultation with stakeholders. The plan runs from September 2022 to December 2027 and can be supplemented.

25 actions

The plan contains 25 actions. For example, action is taken against lost fishing gear, which poses a danger to marine animals that are injured or entangled in it. The plan also focuses on the collection and recycling of old fishing gear. “In addition, provision is made for the phasing out of the use of products that give rise to marine pollution. It is also looking at measures against avoidable one-off products that eventually end up in the sea via litter on land. Both regulatory and awareness-raising measures are foreseen for this purpose,” he said. the.

Minister Khattabi attributes marine litter to a disposable culture, saying the problem is “avoidable”. “There is a growing awareness worldwide that our seas and oceans are crucial for life on our planet. I am therefore pleased that this plan is not only aimed at recovery, but also at preventing pollution,” said Khattabi in the press release.