Marine litter strategy for Scotland: consultation analysis

8. Final Comments

Question 11: Do you have any final comments that you would like to make on the draft Marine Litter Strategy or Action Plan that have not been covered elsewhere in your consultation response?

8.1 Almost two-thirds of respondents provided final comments to the consultation, which have been grouped under the following headings ordered by frequency. Comments were typically from individuals and organisations who took the time to re-emphasise points already made.

Wet wipes and single use plastics

8.2 By far the most common final comment (one-third of the total comments) called for a ban or limitation on wet wipes in general, wet wipes containing plastic, and/or single use plastic items. Almost all were from individuals, with most forming part of a standard campaign response.

8.3 The same campaign response called for the ban on wet wipes containing plastic and a move towards more reusable products. It also called for an EPR scheme so that businesses paid the costs of clean-up. The full campaign response is quoted below.

"I support a ban on wet wipes containing plastic. But, simply substituting plastic with another single-use material will not be enough by itself. We also need to support consumers to move to reusable products and apply EPR (where companies would pay the full costs of their product disposal including clean ups) to all other single-use wet wipes. These measures should be applied to all sanitary items which have similar issues and solutions. In the long term we want to see action at a larger scale, there is no longer time to solve the plastics crisis item by item, we need systemic change to move to a reusable and circular economy."

Campaign response from multiple individuals

8.4 Other quotes included:

"Long term, the aim should be to have no potential for waste entering the marine environment. the banning of products likely to enter the system, education and provision of resources to prevent larger waste to enter the system and the encouragement to industry to replace plastic gear with biodegradable alternatives. this last item will probably be the toughest due to cost and efficiency".

Individual

"Along river banks, single use plastics including…sanitary products, notably sanitary pads and wet wipes, are often found. Can the versions containing plastic be banned, at least wet wipes?"

Individual

"Take away meal packaging needs to be biodegradable but this is often seen as an expensive option so banning non biodegradable packaging would be a step forward and complement the banning of plastic straws."

Individual

Comments supportive of the Strategy

8.5 The second most common final comment (about 11% of all comments) were those that expressed broad agreement with the overall Strategy and expressed thanks to Marine Scotland/Scottish Government for developing the Strategy. Such comments were primarily from organisation respondents.

8.6 Quotes included the following:

"British Marine Scotland welcomes this consultation, believes the Marine Litter Strategy is necessary and is in agreement with aim of the Strategy - to help realise the vision of 'clean, healthy, safe, productive, and biologically diverse marine and coastal environment that meets the long-term needs of people and nature, and is in agreement with the 5 Strategic Directions."

British Marine Scotland

"Scottish Water are supportive of the proposed measures under the Marine Litter Strategy".

Scottish Water

"Overall, the Strategy and the commitments it contains are welcome and the achievement of Marine Scotland in developing the Strategy acknowledged, as well as the difficulty of delivering impact across the scale and scope of marine litter challenges, particularly where budgets are increasingly stretched."

Scottish Islands Federation

Comments suggesting the Strategy does not go far enough

8.7 There were a small number of comments from individuals and organisations which indicated that the Strategy did not go far enough in addressing marine litter.

8.8 The main points raised were as follows:

• The severity of the issue of marine litter was raised, including support for more urgent and immediate action.
• The action plan could also be more ambitious or aspirational to tackle the seriousness of the situation.
• There was recognition of the issue of a lack of credible data on the volume, nature and source of marine litter, and that this made the targeting of actions more difficult.

Greater support for voluntary/third sector

8.9 The important role played by communities/community groups in tackling marine litter was also emphasised.

8.10 Some responses highlighted communities as an under-utilised resource to support delivery of the Strategy and suggested that Marine Scotland could benefit from greater community engagement and participation. Alternatively, some responses noted the over-reliance on communities and volunteers to support marine litter removal activities.

8.11 Quotes included:

"Currently there is too much focus or responsibility on individual actions and volunteers who clean up the mess created by plastic and other producers. For example the shores of the Firth of Forth are littered with millions of plastic pellets and micro plastics, plastic producers are directly responsible for this. This is a problem that needs solved by making the companies take action to solve this and to reduce the production of plastic/single use items.

Individual

"Scotland has an extensive number of visitors engaged in walking and other activities around the coast. Engage and utilise them to monitor, provide a central hub for reporting beaches with a heavy litter load and make it easy for them to collect and dispose of litter. Those of us who walk remote beaches are aware of the issue and in many cases happy to help but it is incredibly frustrating to have nowhere to dispose of litter collected and man-hauled back and to have no way of reporting issues with any hope of a clean up either being coordinated or supported."

Individual

"Make it easier for Citizens, Communities & Interest Groups to Drive Change. There are many in Scotland who are passionate about the health of our seas. Empower them as Ambassadors for change".

Individual