http://www.unep.org/newscentre/Default.aspx?DocumentID=2796&ArticleID=11008&l=en

Ocean Experts Call for Greater Local Government Role in Fight Against
Marine Waste

wo, okt 1, 2014

Fresh Strategies to tackle Pollution, Plastics and Climate Impacts to be
Included in New Plan to Manage the World's Seas.

Athens, 1 October 2014 - Leading scientists and policymakers meeting in
Athens this week acknowledged that marine litter remained a "tremendous
challenge" in almost all regions of the world, with significant
socio-economic consequences and clear impacts on marine ecosystems.

The three-day 16th Global Meeting of the Regional Seas Conventions and
Action Plans was held amid growing concern worldwide about the threat
that widespread plastic waste poses to marine life, with conservative
estimates of overall financial damage of plastic to marine ecosystems
standing at US$13 billion each year.

Participating experts recommended a three-tier approach to marine
litter, saying that the problem needed to be tackled - not just at the
regional and national levels - but at the municipal level, because in
most cases it is municipalities that have responsibility for solid-waste
management.

"If we are serious about reducing the amount of solid waste being dumped
in oceans, or flowing through waterways into oceans and marine
ecosystems, then we need to work at all levels, including with
municipalities which deal with solid waste management at grassroots
level," said Julian Reyna, Secretary-General of the Permanent Commission
on the South Pacific, Ecuador.