REMPEC participated in PolyTalk 2018 – Apr 26, 2018

PolyTalk 2018, a multi-stakeholder forum organised by the plastics manufacturers, was held in St. Julian’s, Malta from 26 to 27 April 2018. The Head of Office of the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) and relevant staff participated in the event.

This year’s PolyTalk was held under the banner “Together we must save our oceans from litter”. More than 180 representatives from the political and business world, NGO and media, as well as the scientific and academic community attended the conference. Mr Gaetano Leone, the Coordinator of the UN Environment/Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP)-Barcelona Convention Secretariat gave a speech elaborating on UNEP/MAP’s role in addressing the issue of marine litter and participated in the panel discussion on the shared strategies for the Mediterranean region: issues and challenges arising from marine litter.

REMPEC is an active actor on the issue of prevention, reduction and control of marine litter in the Mediterranean and the Regional Strategy for Prevention of and Response to Marine Pollution from Ships (2016-2021), which was adopted by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention in 2016, includes 3 relevant specific objectives, namely on the provision of reception facilities in ports, the delivery of ship-generated wastes and the reduction of the pollution generated by pleasure craft activities. The forum provided REMPEC with an opportunity to gather the latest information and perspectives regarding the scientific findings of the impact of plastic litter on the environment as well as the measures, practices and innovations developed and adopted to tackle the matter, which will contribute to REMPEC’s on-going activities with respect to the prevention of marine litter pollution from ships. Furthermore, the contacts that REMPEC managed to establish during the event will facilitate the activities focusing on measures related to the better management of sea-based litter in ports it was entrusted with in the framework of the “Marine Litter-MED” Project as well as the Cooperation Agreement between the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea (IMELS) and UNEP.