Composition of marine litter found on European beaches (in 2016, share by item count)

Ocean pollution, in particular plastics, has been receiving more attention in recent years, both from the public and among policy makers. A new directive on reducing the impact of certain plastic products on the environment, often shortened to the ‘single-use plastics directive’, seeks to address in particular the top 10 single-use plastics and discarded fishing gear found on European beaches (see Figure 2 below). It builds on the 2015 circular economy action plan and on the 2018 strategy for plastics in a circular economy, and introduces measures such as bans and requirements relating to consumption reduction, product design, labelling and awareness-raising and additional extended producer responsibility requirements).