The European Litter Prevention Association

Developing a toolbox to stop marine litter at source

24 July 2016

It is often said in the litter prevention community that 80% of marine litter comes from land. If we could stop litter before it makes its way to the different waterways, we could do a lot to reduce the creation of marine litter. This is the objective of the Clean Europe Network’s taskforce on Litter Pathways to the Aquatic Environment.

9 members of the Clean Europe Network are currently working together to produce a toolkit or guide that can be used by cities or municipalities across Europe to measure litter as it enters their waterways and identify potential cost-effective abatement strategies based on an extensive study that was done by Eunomia - an environmental consultancy - for the Clean Europe Network.

The taskforce is expected to complete the preliminary guide by the end of the summer so that its effectiveness can be tested in four locations between September and October. A more extensive set of piloting can then be carried out in a second phase based on the first set of results. In the meantime, infographics have been produced in the seven languages of the participating members in order to boost the communication efforts surrounding the selection and trials.

Along with the development of a common litter measurement methodology, this work has been made possible through the co-funding of the EU Commission’s LIFE NGO Partnership Grant in 2016/2017.

For more information about the Litter Pathways to the Aquatic Environment toolkit, do not hesitate to contact the Clean Europe Network Secretariat.