Knowledge Measures

Data quantification on marine debris Data quantification on marine debris

Not everything can be monitored and reported. The target should be defined depending on the item size, the type of material and durability. The impact of the lost material on the environment should be decisive. Plastic is a priority (e.g. polyethylene). Monitoring schemes should be based on the LCA, depending on the materials and the infrastructures put in place. There is no specification on which and how much of specific materials are wasted by an aquaculture farm. Those companies mostly know the total amount of waste produced but not the amount of waste per type of material. Waste companies should provide statistics on waste types produced by companies, to help them improve their systems. A way to track the collected litter from the marine environment would be to bring it to the harbor, weigh it and, after that, to give a receipt of the kg that have been collected by the company. This would help to monitor how much is being collected and would encourage/facilitate the recycling, as it could be brought to/picked up by the waste manager directly.