The Government of Flanders commits to the preparation of a Flemish action plan to combat marine litter.
In the Flemish region a target has been set to reduce the leakage of litter to the marine environment with 75% by 2025. In order to meet this target, an action plan is currently being drafted providing a set of measures aiming at the short, medium and long term. These measures will address both sea- and land based sources of marine litter, but will also look at measures related to the leakage into the sea through rivers and waterways, education/communication campaigns, and international cooperation, such as:
- improved availability and use of port reception facilities for waste from commercial shipping, fishing vessels, recreational craft, aquaculture and offshore activities
- general waste policy and regulatory framework focusing on the prevention of litter
- focus on plastics and circular economy
- phasing out of microplastics: proposing measures to be adopted in the EU waste framework directive (which is currently being revised) to phase out microbeads in cosmetic products
- encourage research investigating the impact of microplastics to the environment and human health
- waste from beach tourism: awareness raising in order to avoid littering and supporting voluntary beach clean-ups
- the collection of floating litter in waterways and ports: installing litter traps and assessing optimal clean-up technology
- investigate the possibilities of improving sewage treatment plants in order to capture microplastics
- education: implement the issue of marine litter in school programs
- communication campaigns (e.g. beach tourism, the link of land-based litter with marine litter, the possible impact of microplastics to the human food chain, impact of the fishing industry, etc.)
- international cooperation: assess options to help developing states through transfer of know-how and technology