Marine Litter Legislation: A Toolkit for Policymakers

Abstract

Marine litter poses serious environmental, health, and economic threats to oceans and coastal ecosystems. It also presents a unique legal and regulatory challenge for many nation States (hereinafter States), as it can originate from diverse land-based and sea-based sources both within and outside of a State. While the full magnitude of the problem can be difficult to ascertain, some estimates suggesting that an average of 8 million tons of plastic waste entered the ocean in 2010, and this figure has been projected to increase.