Marine litter issues, impacts and actions

10 Innovative and Cost Effective Strategies

At the international, national and local level there is a raft of activities to combat marine litter and in many cases litter in general. These may offer examples of best practice and effective strategies for marine litter management.

Innovation can be defined as improving an existing service, product or policy or the successful development and exploitation of new ideas as alternatives; a novel approach. Through development comes increased challenges and opportunities and it is widely recognised innovation is essential to achieve specific goals and wider objectives such as environmental protection, growth, social inclusion and sustainability (e.g. Damanpour and Gopalakrishnan, 1998).There are different types of innovation and in order to effectively tackle the issue of marine litter, each of these need consideration and assimilation.

10.1 Institutional Innovation

Institutional innovation is centred on the creation of neworganisations, or new approaches to the way existing organisations operate, allowing for a change in organisational priorities, and cultural or social changes within that organisation (Damanpour and Gopalakrishnan, 1998). This coordinated approach can lead to improved learning, often standardised approaches and data sharing, and fosters relationship building to effectively meet mutual objectives.

Examples of this can be seen from the summary table in the NOAA Marine Debris Programme which aims to centralize their capability with regard to marine litter reduction both within the agency, its partners, and the public and provide a platform for global partnerships and cooperation for marine litter management. The UNEP Global Initiative on Marine litter aims to help resolve the issue through building knowledge through the Regional Seas programmes and joint initiatives as well as the development of a common approach to monitoring marine litter to address the lack of data and information as an obstacle to improved management.

10.2 Product Innovation

Product innovationis the process through which new or improved products or processes are developed and brought into widespread use. Often these products or processes are grouped together to serve a particular function within society (social innovation). The process of product innovation usually consists of research, development and demonstration through to the operational use of that process or product ( OECD, 2005).

The plastics industry is a good example of product innovation, with plastic now being an essential part of modern society. Their continued innovation has enabled plastic to be used in place of other material offering cost savings and material improvement. Given our reliance on plastics and their extent in the coastal and marine environment industry innovation can also be tailored to product development and biodegradable alternatives. In March 2011, 47 plastics industry organisations from around the world signed up to a Joint Declaration for Solutions on Marine Litter ( www.marinedebrissolutions.com/declaration) .

10.3 Social Innovation

Social innovation refers to new ideas, organisations or strategies that work to address pressing social needs, more effectively than alternatives and create new social relationships or collaborations, with the overall aim of improving either the quality or the quantity of life (Pol and Ville, 2009). Many of the initiatives focussed on enhancing environmental quality such as the KSB National Spring Clean or Love Where You Live campaign, are examples of social innovation, where society is acting to solve a common problem.

New methods of social innovation are relevant in every sector but they are likely to offer most in situations which are intensifying, in fields where existing models and approaches are failing or stagnant, and in situations where new possibilities(such as emerging technologies) are not being adequately exploited to develop innovative solutions to common needs. Social innovation may be overlooked in some situations as unlike technological innovation, there is no obvious gain for any one organisation, however opportunities do exist to ensure its full potential for example through the use of incentives.

10.4 Regional Innovation

Regional innovation encourages the exchange of knowledge, skills, ideas and best practice within a given geographic area ( OECD, 2005). Regional innovation systems act as an interface for interaction with other regional, national and international actors to further encourage information sharing. Furthermore relationships are fostered through the geographical proximity, yet innovation encouraged through the diversity of participants, rather than clustering innovation around institutional or industry based groups in the case of technological innovation (Todtling and Trippl, 2005). The regions may be drawn conceptually or organizationally around institutional regimes such as Marine Planning Partnerships or other recognised groups.

The case for regional innovation is especially pertinent for Scotland where such diversity exists from the large urban areas of the Central Belt to the remote and sparsely populated Highlands and Islands. Offering the opportunity to deal with the issues specific to a particular region and its' individual characteristics i.e. degrees of rurality, helps to ensure any management approaches take account of this and thus are more likely to succeed.

10.5 Market Based Instruments

Market based instruments offer a complimentary approach to address the marine litter issue alongside the more traditional, recognised methods of education and legislation, as part of an integrated, comprehensive programme. Market based instruments are economic tools including taxes, charges, fines, penalties, liability and compensation schemes, subsidies and incentives and tradable permit schemes. These tools fully incorporate the polluter pays principle, the user/beneficiary pays principle and the principle of full cost recovery and work to raise revenue (which can be used to further support the work) through fines and charges, act as an incentive to change behaviour, or ensuring market pricing is a reflection of the true cost of the environmental impact.

The use of market based instruments in environmental management is becoming common place, using market forces to help offer a resolution. Globally there is now a great deal of experience to be gleaned to ensure their effective use and lessen the risk inherent in policy innovation. There are a plethora of market based tools which can be used in this context, and the decision of which to use will be based on a number of considerations including the type and source of litter, its impacts, ensuring an adequate regulatory framework is in place to support their use and the cost effectiveness and likely gains (Figure 10-1).

Figure 10 ‑ 1 Marine litter types and example of market based instruments (adapted from Ten Brink et al., 2009)

10.6 Barriers to Innovation

Several factors including skills shortages, and lack of understanding may impact upon the development and uptake of new or modified products and processes, and ultimately on innovation. There is a requirement to prioritise which of these to develop further based on their likelihood of success and the risks involved. Often the social and environmental benefits can be overlooked in favour of economic benefits, or because the costs of action is currently more than the economic cost of the current situation but as already shown, the true cost of marine litter is intrinsically difficult to value in economic terms.

10.7 Innovation and Policy

From the literature two schools of thought appear on innovation and environmental policy. Firstly, debate emerges over the effectiveness of policy and its impact on innovation, in that it is suppressed by policy by diverting valuable resources away from blue sky thinking and high risk (but potentially effective) approaches towards regulatory compliance via commonplace end of pipe solutions. In contrast, it is argued the links between environmental policy and innovation are two dimensional. From one point of view, environmental policy (such as stringent packaging standards) may stimulate innovation in the use of alternative materials designed to meet those standards. On the other hand, the possibilities thrown up by innovation can help policy-makers to set progressively stringent standards.

10.8 Existing Approaches

A number of the initiatives have been summarised in the following summary table (Figure 10-2), targeting the key sources of litter including public, SRD, fishing, shipping, fly tipping, and non-sourced. These activities show differing uses of innovation in their approach to marine litter reduction and prevention, including technological and policy innovation as well as social innovations whereby groups are coming together to better address a specific issue as in the example from Korea of a management system to address land based litter from rivers where authorities are coming together to develop cost sharing agreements for clean up operations.

The Strategy may wish to explore expanding these to Scotland where applicable, or drawing on their key strengths and incorporating these in to existing work.

Figure 10 ‑ 2 Initiatives targeting the key sources of litter