Plastic Pollution Decreases in Australian Coasts

According to a study by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, published in the journal One Earth, Australian coastal plastic pollution has decreased by 29 per cent. The study builds upon CSIRO’s extensive coastal litter surveys completed in 2013, and included 563 new coastal surveys, and interviews with waste managers across 32 local governments around Australia.

The research showed how quickly change could happen when effective waste management strategies were deployed. Clean-up activities, such as Clean Up Australia Day and surveillance programs that directly involved members of the community were also found to be effective. It was found that municipalities which did not update their waste management strategies over time, or who removed their budget for coastal waste management had ‘dirtier coastlines’. However, municipalities that improved information about waste management on their website and increased coastal waste budgetary efforts showed significant decreases in plastic pollution along their coastline.

Source:

https://www.csiro.au/en/news/all/news/2022/june/plastic-on-australias-beaches-cut-by-almost-a-third