EDUCATION & RESEARCH

Worldwide change begins with dedicated and well-informed individual action. Anyone can fight the devastation being caused by plastic pollution, but we all need to understand the problem and potential solutions. Knowledge drives innovation, as well as intellectual design and future leaders to help fight the plastic crisis. The Education Pillar will provide global access to essential knowledge, opportunities for communities to develop skills, and encourage and support progress for a plastic free ocean.

Educational tools and solutions that OLF utilizes includes:

• EPIC Academy (Coming soon!) – A complete educational curriculum to be taught in the classroom or for online learners wishing to learn the material at their own pace. Suitable for highschool students and up to students of all ages;
• OLF’s handbook on Marine Debris Solutions: Transforming Wasted Plastic into a Valuable Resource with the intent to guide science-based education around the effects of plastic pollution in the natural environment and human body;
• Youth outreach program;
• Interactive online mapping system and Hot Spot portal on the OLF’s website where the global community can report plastic pollution zones;
• Shoreline monitoring and evaluation program;
• Interactive community engagement, and leadership and training and initiatives; and
• Capacity improvement process.

The end goal of this pillar is to educate a wide range of individuals about the plastic crisis to help foster global movement to end plastic pollution.

EDUCATION & RESEARCH TOOLS↗

POLICY & ADVOCACY

Policy is about merging best practice plastic management strategies with the needs of our communities and the health of our planet. The Policy component provides support with global decision making for better programs and practices.

The pillar combines a bottom up and top down approach by identifying the needs of civil society and government to target every day choices, decisions and actions: what we buy, what we eat, what we do for work, how we transport ourselves, etc. The Policy Pillar incorporates the evaluation of current policies and regulations, and civil society engagement for reduction and management strategies.

The policy tools and solutions that the OLF utilizes includes:

• Marine Debris Solutions program, a pilot project to illustrate how other communities can create change;
• Impelling government change and leadership (e.g., British Columbia’s Beverage Container Legacy: The Missing Millions report and recommendations); and
• Harmonious collaboration and liaison with volunteers, non-government organizations, Indigenous, federal, provincial, regional and local governments, industry and international partners to move towards:
  • Restrictions (bans) on certain products and packaging (single use) that pose specific threats to the environment (use bans);
  • Prohibiting the disposal of materials that can be recycled (disposal bans); and
  • Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) standards

The end goal of this pillar is to support the development and implementation of sustainable international policies that will help to end plastic pollution.

POLICY & ADVOCACY TOOLS↗

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

Plastic pollution is a result of waste mismanagement and the over consumption of plastic. Many countries lack adequate infrastructure to manage wastes, resulting in materials being discarded inappropriately, such as harmful burning resulting in carbon dioxide and detrimental dioxins being released into the air. Some of these materials end up in landfills, while other items are littered on city streets, the countryside and along waterways.

The Infrastructure Pillar will provide global solutions towards creating a demand for marine plastics and derivatives to drive new technologies for the recycling industry, as well as identify and develop plastic equity markets. The Infrastructure Pillar incorporates the development of collection systems, assessment and planning, and implementation and training.

The infrastructure tools and solutions utilized will be incorporated from the Ocean Legacy Technologies (OLT) department, which includes:

• Zero Waste System that:
  • Processes plastic waste to increase the capture of materials before they reach aquatic environments and to encourage further extraction; and
  • Limit plastic consumption to induce the plastic producer to build reverse supply chains for products and packing.
• Technological innovation to stimulate new technology to process contaminated plastic to further reduce landfill input (e.g., plastic to fuel, CO2 resin capture for solar hydrogen pellets for resin recycling production) to drive the supply of recovered materials for use in manufacturing;
• Collaboration with large technological businesses and manufacturers to create innovative solutions to plastic pollution with larger partnerships (e.g., Lush Cosmetics North America, Resynergi Inc. and the City of Knowledge, Panama) to convert debris materials into valuable products;
• Employment opportunities and economic development with the reduction, reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishment, recycling, and upcycling of plastic items; and
• Development certification framework for the marine industry.

The end goal of this pillar is to support initiatives and technologies to create a carbon negative circular economy for plastics.

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT TOOLS↗

CLEANUP & RESTORATION

The OLF has collaborated locally and internationally to clean shorelines and complete research around British Columbia-CAN, Yelapa-MX, Alaska-USA, North Pacific Gyre-Pacific Ocean, Uvita-CR and San Blas-PAN. Volunteers have now removed over 70 metric tons of mixed plastic, foam pollution and Japanese driftage.

The Cleanup & Restoration component assists communities in physically removing plastic pollution from ecologically sensitive environments to create a cleaner and safer place for wildlife, communities, and eco-tourism.   This pillar is also an educational component as it provides opportunities for citizens to witness plastic pollution and to partake in action-based engagement.

The cleanup tools and solutions that OLF utilizes includes:

• International Cleanup Series strategic plan and framework (tactical guide and set of instructions is to determine scope, resources, key components and major tasks to illustrate how to systematically plan, coordinate and complete small to moderate and large-scale cleanups)
• Pre-conditions Assessment Parameter Matrix to detect early signs of difficulties to initiate corrective actions for potential site hazards, topography, accessibility, waste composition and material volume estimates, and transportation requirements;
• Survey of plastic congestion through the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration survey guidelines to track composition, volume and reaccumulation rate of material washing up on to shorelines;
• Shoreline cleanup strategies and best management work practices for collection, sorting, transporting and processing materials; and
• Shoreline cleanup best management safety standards.

CLEANUP TOOLS↗

CONCLUSION

It is clear that in order to achieve plastic free Oceans, a global community must form and implement pragmatic action which targets all components of the E.P.I.C. program. The E.P.I.C. program creates an accessible platform to connect communities ready to engage in plastic management strategies. The resulting benefits for the E.P.I.C. program include:

• Community capacity;
• Cleaner and safer ocean and shoreline environments;
• Employment opportunities;
• Landfill waste reduction;
• Technological innovation; and
• Increased public awareness and engagement.

The OLF is committed to working with global citizens to assess and build the tools required to further develop and improve plastic management for their communities. The end goal for the E.P.I.C. program is to unite the global community to take a wholistic approach towards pragmatic action to achieve plastic free-oceans.