National Marine Litter Policy: Government Begins Work On An Action Plan To Check Plastic Waste Flowi

New Delhi: To take on the marine pollution across India’s 7,500 km coastline, the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences will begin work on a comprehensive study to identify the source of litter, especially the plastic waste that flows into India’s coastal waters. The exercise is the first step towards framing a National Marine Litter Policy with the objective to clean up the oceans, which is in line with UN Environment’s global ‘Clean Seas Campaign’ that India joined on World Environment Day 2018. According to a study published in the journal Science on February 13, 2015, it is estimated that India dumps 600,000 tonnes of plastic waste into the oceans, annually.

As part of this exercise, the experts from the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services will work to gauge the pollution in the coastal regions and to find it sources so we can prevent the plastic waste entering into the oceans at the first place. “This will be done in collaboration with the state government,” Mr Rajeevan added.