Here comes my abstract!

SUMMARY

The knowledge about the severe impacts of marine plastic debris and its widespread distribution into even the most pristine environments grows steadily. It has been documented in literature that numerous seabirds, turtles, fish and whale species suffer and die from ingestion of plastic particles mistaken for food and from entanglement in plastic items. Further, floating debris acts as a vector for the spread of alien species and can hinder gas exchange on the seafloor when sedimented. Additionally, plastic particles concentrate endocrine disrupting toxics and other persistent chemicals on their surface which are then accumulated in the food chain across trophic levels. Against this background, different problem mitigation strategies are reviewed and a life-cycle assessment of an arctic beach-cleaning operation is conducted, which tries to quantify the negative and positive effects of this particular mitigation action. The amount of plastics removed and the resulting ecological benefit for local wildlife as well as the increased societal awareness of marine litter counterbalance the carbon emissions caused by the operation. The project identified a lack of operational assessment methods for positive environmental impacts. Therefore own approaches to describe the achieved effects are set up as evaluation methods for the positive impact here. Finally, we will only manage to tackle this pervasive problem if the input of new plastic debris into the oceans will be stopped eventually or at least reduced drastically in the near future. Only then, the health of marine ecosystems can be safeguarded in order to not cross any essential ecological thresholds.

Keywords: Plastic litter, Beach clean-up, Life cycle assessment, Clean-up operation, Ocean plastic waste, Positive environmental impact, Ecobalance, Svalbard.