A One-Third Slash in Marine Macro Litter

Thanks to multilateral, national, regional, and citizen efforts, the European Union’s coastlines saw a one-third decline in marine macro litter over five years, partly due to a reduction in single-use plastic and fishery-related items.

Between the baseline period (2015-2016) and the assessment period (2020-2021), marine macro litter – items bigger than 2.5 mm – has declined by 29%, mainly along the shore of the Baltic Sea, with a 45% decline.

The EU Coastline Macro Litter Trend report reveals that significant efforts were deployed in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, leading to a 38% and 30% reduction in marine macro litter, respectively. Single-use plastic was reduced by 40%, fishery-related items by 20%, and plastic bags by 20%. EU regions still have a ways to go to fall below the agreed threshold value for coastline macro litter, with the EU Zero Pollution Action Plan‘s Target 5a aiming to reduce plastic litter at sea by 50% by 2030.