Marine litter: Progress in developing an integrated policy approach in Scotland Emily Hastings a,n , Tavis Potts b a The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK b Scottish Association for Marine Science, Oban, UK article info Article history: Received 20 December 2012 Received in revised form 23 January 2013 Accepted 29 January 2013 Keywords: Marine litter Marine policy Policy integration Scotland abstract Marine litter is a problem that undermines the Scottish Government’s vision for ‘clean, healthy, safe, productive, biologically diverse marine and coastal environments, managed to meet the long term needs of nature and people’. The impacts of marine litter extend to environmental, social and economic spheres but currently the understanding of effects is limited. It is clear however, that marine litter can impact on a range of resources and ultimately threaten policy goals such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and its focus on delivering a clean and healthy marine environment. The Scottish Government has initiated a process to advance a marine litter strategy as part of its response to the MSFD. This paper draws upon the literature and practice of environmental policy integration to identify opportunities and obstacles in the emerging policy response in Scotland. Ultimately, any marine litter strategy for Scotland should be innovative and forward looking, coordinating amongst the variety of sectors, users and instruments available—‘joining the dots’ to tackle the considerable challenges in educating the public and contributing to a zero waste Scotland. & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The disposal of waste at sea and its accumulation on the coast is not a new occurrence. However, the on-going shift towards the use of more durable materials with increased residence time, and an increasing interest in the protection of the seas, is pushing marine litter up the political and public agenda. Combined with high profile reports such as incidences of oceanic garbage patches [1], there is an augmented international drive to address the problem of marine litter. Marine litter can be defined as manufactured or processed solid material disposed of, or abandoned, either directly or indirectly, in the marine and coastal environment. The majority consists of plastics, and is highly persistent, often remaining in the environment for centuries [2]. Marine litter originates from both land- and sea-based activities. Land based sources include rivers [3,4], sewerage overflows [5], fly-tipping, wind-blown waste, industry [6], poor municipal waste management, as well as litter left by beachgoers [5]. Marine sources include both commercial and recreational fisheries [7] and shipping [3,8,9]. At the global scale, it has been estimated that the greatest proportion of marine litter is from land-based sources, with similar proportions at the UK level. In the UK, the Marine Conservation Society [10] highlighted from their annual beach clean surveys that 47% was from land based sources, 17% from fishing and shipping and a further 37% is non-sourced (where due to the type or condition of the item, no clear source can be identified). The latest survey in Scotland revealed 37.5% of collected marine litter had originated from public sources, 29.6% non-sourced, 20.5% sewage related waste, 8.9% from the fishing industry, 1.7% from shipping, 1.6% fly-tipped and 0.2% medical waste [10]. The studies show the predominant identifiable source of marine litter is considered as ‘public’. ‘Public’ is a diffuse source of marine litter, encompassing many sub-source types such as beach users and riverine and urban runoff. Litter in this category can include food and drink packaging and smoking related waste. Fisheries and sewage related waste are also noted for their high proportions within the surveys. Marine litter associated with fisheries and aquaculture includes nets, ropes, buoys and cages. These are often lost or released into the marine environment due to the snagging of gear on topographical features [6]. The discharge of untreated sewage due to ineffective waste treatment facilities and the use of combined sewer overflows can result in an influx of related waste (cotton bud sticks, nappies, sanitary products) into coastal waters [6]. Lesser quantities of litter are recorded from offshore activities and shipping, including acciden- tal loss due to adverse weather; the contents of approximately 10,000 cargo containers are lost worldwide each year in this way [6]. The ability however, to identify a particular source or Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpol Marine Policy 0308-597X/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2013.01.024 n Corresponding author. Tel.: þ44 1224 395150. E-mail address: emily.hastings@hutton.ac.uk (E. Hastings). Marine Policy 42 (2013) 49–55