By Sara Rouche & Lauri Gravel
- Published on October 28, 2013 by UCLA: Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
Download the Pritzker Environmental Law and Policy Brief "Stemming the Tide of Plastic Marine Litter: A Global Action Agenda" by Mark Gold, Katie Mika, Cara Horowitz, Megan Herzog, and Lara Leitner.
Read the news release by UCLA School of Law's Sara Rouche and Lauri Gavel.
In addition to summarizing the economic, public health, public property and ecological risks posed by marine debris, the report identified the legal shortcomings on efforts to solve the global marine plastic litter crisis. An estimated 20 million tons of plastic litter enter the ocean every year and has been known to impact more than 600 species of marine life. Recent EPA estimates of the economic cost of marine litter range in the $500 million a year range: an average cost of over $13 per person per year.
No individual action will solve the plastic marine litter crisis, but swift implementation of the aforementioned recommendations on a global scale could finally stem the tide of this critical environmental problem.