Plastic bags are very common sighting in coasts, easily travel to the open seas and are considered a great threat to marine life. They are frequently referred to as “Silent Killers” because they insert into marine animals organism and kill them in various ways. In sea turtles, the plastic bag blocks their digestive tract and the food that is trapped releases gases causing buoyancy, that makes them unable to dive for food. There are also findings in fish; male fish end up with female organs due to excess estrogen production as a result to the high toxicity from plastic that bioaccumulates.

At the end of April 2015 European Parliament and the Council adopted Directive (EU) 2015/720 amending the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive  with regard to reducing the consumption of lightweight plastic carrier bags. The timeline for Member States calls for immediate measures by 26 November 2016 to reduce these bags consumption, including either the setting of a maximum annual consumption level of 90 bags per person by 2019 (and of 40 bags by 2025), or stop retailers giving away free bags altogether by the end of 2018.

Member States already use different measures to face this problem, such as national legislation, voluntary initiatives and economic measures. According to researchers, who analysed the efficiency rates of different measures in Member States, so far there isn’t a success recipe that could be simply followed. Therefore it is suggested that each Member State adopt a holistic approach. More analytically it is suggested that in order to face the problem, designing a national strategy should be a result of previous research with strong evidence that a specific measure does apply, rather than measures randomly chosen from other countries experiences.

Article’s Sources:
Silent Killers: The Danger of Plastic Bags to Marine Life 
Holistic approach needed to reduce consumption of lightweight plastic carrier bags

Interested to get involved?

PERSEUS invites you to participate in monitoring for marine litter using your Iphone/Ipad or your Android device through an easy application. Find out more here .

In case you are sailing, check out also “PERSEUS & Sailing” initiative.