«DOING NOTHING IS NOT AN OPTION» BERNARD MERKX

Transcription

1 «DOING NOTHING IS NOT AN OPTION» -Fishing for Litter : challenges and opportunities- Waste issues related to fishing, aquaculture & maritime sector BERNARD MERKX Co founder WFO HELCOM STAKEHOLDER CONFERENCE HELSINKI 9 MARCH 2016

2 WASTE FREE OCEANS

3 PROVEN APPROACH HUMAN BEHAVIOUR THERE IS NO PLANet B

4 NO ONE WANTS TO BE SURROUNDED WITH LITTER

5 KOSOVO - RIVER POLLUTION - MARCH 2015.

6 WASTE FREE OCEANS > CO CREATION SINCE EARLY 2011 Let s combine poverty eradication with improved environmental behaviour and give the local populations a better basis, with cleaner (drinking) water and less rubbish - Bernard Merkx WFO co-founder -. This WFO foundation activity needs to be promoted all over Europe and even all over the world. Pollution has already reached levels which are no longer acceptable for our future generations. To preserve the quality of our food chain, it all startswith education and awareness. MEP Alain Cadec, November WFO Champion - President EU Parliament Fishery Committee Litter is a valuable resource in the wrong place Achim Steiner UNEP

7 MARINE DEBRIS 3 TYPES OF FISHING FOR LITTER PASSIVE FFL: When during normal work fishermen litter is collected in the nets it needs to be brought ashore instead of putting it on the blue shelf. ACTIVE FFL: When fishermen are sent on special duty to collect floating debris on identified hotspots in order to bring this material ashore. WFOTrawls can also be used stationary (). GHOST NET RETRIEVAL: With the help of fishermen and i.e. coast-guard, divers to trace and retrieve socalled ghost nets. Actions are prepared to proactively collect obsolete fishing gears in several ports. (WasteFreeOceans and partners 1st globally to apply all 3 types of FFL in practice AND make products from waste streams collected) All 3 types are complementary

8 PASSIVE FISHING FOR LITTER

9 ACTIVE FISHING FOR LITTER IN HOTSPOTS

10 HOW TO WFO s APPROACH - STEP BY STEP

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12 Source:

13 FISHING FOR LITTER BELGIUM - WFO STYLE

14 DREDGING INDUSTRY PARTICIPATES IN FFL BELGIUM

15 2015 : WasteFreeOceans and Europeche have signed strategic partnership (approx fishermen in 15 EU countries) and introduction of WFO FFL style projects are in preparation in several ports around Europe Several initiatives around litter and fishing gear are being expanded, increasingly in cooperation with fishermen (WWF Poland, HappySeal, Upcycling the Oceans, WasteFreeOceans, HealthySeas, 3RFish, Marviva, Kimo, NOAA etc.etc.) A lot of focus still is only on data collection & research (EU, MS, GGGI etc) LANDFILL NOR INCINERATION SHOULD BE THE PRIMARY GOAL AFTER COLLECTION (WASTE HIERARCHY PRINCIPLES) OUTLET FOCUS ON FIBERS (Aquafil, Interface etc), OTHER OUTLET MARKETS IN DEVELOPMENT (Plastix etc) DISCUSSIONS WITH MAJOR NET PRODUCERS ONGOING TO CLOSE THE LOOPS

16 6 MAY 2015 FISHING FOR LITTER EXPO AT DG MARE BRUSSELS PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP, INDUSTRY LED CHAMPIONED BY MR ALAIN CADEC, MEMBER EU PARLIAMENT DG MARE DIRECTOR GENERAL MRS LOWRI EVANS MR IVAN VICTOR PRESIDENT BELGIAN FISHERY MR BERNARD MERKX, WFO CO FOUNDER, HONORARY PRESIDENT PLASTICS RECYCLERS EUROPE

17 FISHING FOR LITTER EXPO AT DG MARE BRUSSELS MR KARMENU VELLA (DG MARITIME & DG ENVIRONMENT)

18 CIRCULAR ECONOMY : ARE WE MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION??

19 AQUACULTURE CHALLENGES Norway largest EU aquaculture producer on global scale. Growth in MED (Tunesia, Egypt, Morocco) Largest growth of Aquaculture in Asia EU waste legislation turns obsolete food grade aquaculture gear into chemical waste once landed (REACH) Discussions with EU authorities and other stakeholders like major net producers ongoing to work on solutions

20 WASTE FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE Prevention Preparing for Reuse Mechanical Recycling Other Recovery Disposal / Landfill

21 PORTS HAVE A KEY ROLE TO PLAY International Fishing for Litter partners so far have to pay in most of the European ports to land some one elses waste!!, especially when it is not their home port. Leading EU fishing fleets (Spain, Belgium, Netherlands) with remote fishing grounds however often land in foreign ports. This acute bottle neck has been reported to a.o. DG Mare, OSPAR and other regional sea conventions, meanwhile nearly 2 years ago, but has so far not led to harmonised special/no - fee structures European Sustainable Shipping Forum, subgroup on Port Reception Facilities has started discussions around this item. WFO is participating in the Forum. Application of the waste hierarchy principles as descriped in WasteFramework Directive (EU 2008/98) is vital. Water Framework directive definitions and others need to be aligned as soon as possible. Circular Economy principles need to be applied here as well.

22 WHATEVER YOU CAN ALREADY SOLVE IN THE PORTS,.. Are you aware that still some 65 % of the commercial vessels leaving main European ports like Rotterdam and Antwerp have waste on board, which is fully in accordance with EU legislation.. EU and Member States need therefore to investigate in a harmonised regulation of mandatory offloading of waste in any port / marina of arrival by all vessels (so including tourism). Costs of waste to be included in the port / marina reception fees, which all vessels have to pay (i.e. Denmark). Captains to be requested to keep records in a waste logbook, available for inspection at any port of entrance By doing this, a major stimulus will be given to stop additional inflow of waste into the waters of the world. On top of that most of European countries have a higher standard of waste treatment facilities then countries in some other parts of the world, so let s create a blueprint. Setting targets for marine litter reduction (MSFD) is an end-of-pipe approach and will therefore only make sense when at least above implementation and enforcement issues for improved prevention are cleared.

23 HAPPY SEAL - WADDENSEA NL - UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE AREA

24 HAPPY SEAL PROJECT

25 RELEASING «HAPPY» TO WILDLIFE TOGETHER WITH FISHERMEN

26 HAPPY SEAL STOCK OF NETS REPLACED BY MARINE LITTER ART

27 PLASTIX AT A GLANCE Pioneer clean-tech company Plastix s Mission We transform maritime industry plastic waste streams into high quality raw materials Plastix is a registered waste treatment facility of non-hazardous waste Production capacity (2016) : t/y Planned capacity Lemvig (<2020) : t/y Plastix will expand production and collection activities to other parts of Europe & overseas Plastix s Vision We provide sustainable solutions to the maritime industry for cleaner environments and oceans 27

28 Plastix works with four strategic focus areas based on four core capabilities Strategic focus areas Core capabilities Expand leadership in recycling of used fishing net Establish leadership in recycling of aqua farming nets Establish leadership in recycling of Ghost nets Expand Plastix s technologies globally Engineering, co-creating, and developing technology solutions and processes Efficient large scale production Planning and executing optimization processes, new sorting and cleaning solutions and delivering high quality plastic, raw materials Building and maintaining a leading position in emerging plastic recycling markets The Plastix Way 28

29 Input Supplier Certification Program (Work in Progress) 29

30 EVENTS IN BELGIUM AROUND FFL

31 SEAFOOD EXPO BRUSSELS 2015

32 ADDING VALUE BY WASTE SEPERATION AT SOURCE

33 ADD VALUE TO WASTE WASTE IS A RESOURCE

34 CIRCULAR ECONOMY CLOSE THE MATERIAL LOOPS!

35 CIRCULAR ECONOMY CLOSE THE MATERIAL LOOPS!

36 PROPOSAL FISHING FOR LITTER BRASIL CO CREATION WFO STYLE GOLFINHOS ALEGRES (HAPPY DOLPHINS) COOPERATION BETWEEN FISHERMEN AND RECYCLING INDUSTRY.

37 LITTER IS A RESOURCE IN THE WRONG PLACE - EXAMPLE KENYA

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39 IN CONCLUSION : TOO MANY SMALL SCALE (VOLUNTEER) INITIATIVES SLOW DOWN CHANGE INCREASED STAKEHOLDER COOPERATION IS VITAL FOR SUCCESS!! THE SPEED OF REAL ACTION AND IMPLEMENTATION IS FAR TOO LOW THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY PACKAGE PROPOSAL BY THE EU COMMISSION IS NOT CONSIDERED TO BE VERY AMBITIOUS. SOME VITAL ISSUES ARE MISSING PRESENT REACH LEGISLATION JEOPARDISES ALL RECYCLING IN EUROPE

40 ONLY TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!! JOIN US AND LET S MAKE THE WORLD A CLEANER PLACE bernard.merkx@wastefreeoceans.eu