In recent years, the global ecological effects brought about by the marine environment and coastal micro-plastic pollution, fishery impact and health risks have been increasingly concerned. At the summit of the Ecological Civilization Guiyang International Forum 'Marine Microplastics Symposium' held in early July, the countries of the world Focus on the problem of marine micro-plastics. This is the first time in ten years that the forum has adopted 'micro-plastics prevention' as the theme, calling for people to pay attention to micro-plastic pollution and protect the marine ecological environment.
Plastic waste is unbearable for the ocean. According to statistics, about 10 million to 20 million tons of plastic waste enters the ocean every year. Over time, countless plastic particles break into the water and can exist for hundreds of years. As a new class of pollutants in the environment, microplastics will have unpredictable hazards to marine ecosystems and human health.
In order to reduce micro-plastic pollution, the world has been painstaking. Since 2011, the United Nations Environment Program has continued to pay attention to micro-plastic pollution in the ocean. The first UN Environment Conference in June 2014 listed marine plastic pollution as nearly 10 years. One of the top ten urgent environmental issues worthy of attention. The 2016 UN Second Environmental Conference further promoted the management and control of marine microplastics from the international regulatory and policy levels.
At present, the international community is actively seeking to establish international rules for the prevention and control of marine micro-plastics. The G20 Summit President of Germany launched the 'G20 Marine Waste Action Plan', which puts forward the priority areas of G20 countries and the policy measures that need to be taken, calling for 'significant Reducing the use of plastic microbeads and plastic bags and properly eliminating them. Some countries have also introduced targeted regulations and policies, focusing on measures in the field of cosmetics. For example, in 2015, the United States introduced the No Microbeads Waters Act. It is clear that no cosmetics containing plastic microbeads will be produced from July 1, 2017. South Korea began to ban the sale of cosmetics containing plastic microbeads in July 2018. Canada's "Plastic Microbeads in Cosmetics" was published on January 1, 2018. Effective today. Today, the problem of marine micro-plastics is becoming more and more prominent. The control and testing of micro-plastics in other countries in the world is gradually put on the agenda.
UK completely bans the sale of plastic microbeads
On June 19th, the UK Ministry of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced that the ban on the sale of rinse-off cosmetics and personal care products containing plastic microspheres in England and Scotland has now come into effect. For example, facial scrubs, soap, toothpaste and bathing Products containing plastic microbeads such as gels are all prohibited from being sold. The ban is considered to be a very strong global ban on plastic microbeads. The ban is the UK government banned production in January this year. Another heavyweight move with plastic microbeads.
Sweden bans the use of plastic particles in some cosmetics
According to reports, the Swedish government plans to ban the sale of rinsing cosmetics containing plastic particles from July this year to reduce marine plastic waste. The ban will take effect on July 1, 2018, for plastic tooth particles such as toothpaste, body. Exfoliating agents, facial cleansers, shower gels, shampoos, conditioners, etc. The plastic particles added to the above cosmetic products are used for cleaning, leaving dead skin, smooth and so on. But there are exceptions to this ban. For example, products containing a single natural polymer (unsynthesized, long-chain molecules that have not undergone chemical modification) are not required to be banned.
France has all cosmetics containing plastic particles
According to foreign media reports, the French Biodiversity Protection Act stipulates that from January 1, 2018, all cosmetics containing plastic particles in France will be removed. Since January 1, 2020, household plastic cotton swabs and Disposable plastic tableware will also be banned for sale. However, medical cotton swabs can still be used, and plastic sticks for household cotton swabs may be replaced by degradable paper.
At the same time, France's law restricting disposable plastic tableware and cups will also take effect from January 1, 2020. The goal is to reduce the use of disposable plastic tableware by 50% by 2020, and reduce it by 60% by 2025. By then, catering Disposable only disposable tableware with eco-friendly materials is allowed.
China conducts five marine microplastic surveys in the Indian Ocean
At the end of June this year, the expedition of the fourth section of the China Ocean 49 voyage was successfully completed. The expedition team carried out a survey of five micro-spatial marine micro-plastics in this section. This is the first time that China has launched a marine micro-small in the Southwest Indian Ocean. Plastics investigation. It is reported that there is a lack of global micro-plastics survey data in the Indian Ocean. China has obtained marine micro-plastic samples in the southwest Indian Ocean, and has a positive effect on the distribution of marine micro-plastics from a global scale and assessing the impact of human activities on the marine environment.
In fact, when the micro-plastics research boom was just emerging in the international community in 2013, China began to conduct scientific research on marine micro-plastics. Since 2016, China began to monitor offshore micro-plastics. Last year, China expanded marine micro-plastics monitoring for the first time. In the oceanic area, a micro-plastics monitoring from the offshore to the ocean to the polar regions has been launched in China. At present, China's research in this field has had an important international impact.
It is reported that there are nearly 40 countries in the world engaged in micro-plastics research, mainly in the United States, Western Europe (UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy), Oceania (Australia) and East Asia (China, Japan and Korea), including 100 A number of educational and research institutions. Among them, the United Kingdom and the United States started earlier.
Of course, micro-plastic pollution is one of the global environmental problems. Its prevention and control is bound to be a national war. It needs the participation of all countries. During the G7 summit in June this year, the EU and Canada adopted a plan to cut the oceans. The document on the numerical target of plastic garbage, but Japan and the United States refused to sign, and once again caused concern.
All in all, in the face of the current problem of marine plastic pollution and micro-plastics, countries all over the world need to carry out all-round, multi-field and deep-level cooperation to jointly safeguard marine ecological security. At the same time, relevant national departments also need to improve the laws related to plastic pollution control and establish Good recycling mechanism for waste plastic recycling. In addition, each of us should start from ourselves, change some consumption habits in daily life, and reduce the generation of waste plastic waste. In order to protect the beautiful ocean, protect the blue home, let us share Declare war on 'new pollutants' in the ocean.