Waste management effectiveness in Australia

This project undertook the marine debris research announced in February 2016 by the then Minister for the Environment, the Hon Greg Hunt, to encourage better waste management practices to improve water quality outcomes for Australia’s marine environment.

Storm water and litter.

This project contributed to better understanding of where to target investment in abatement measures by providing information on the extent of the leakage of plastic materials into the marine environment, where the greatest leakages are and in what quantity, and what form they take (e.g. plastic bags, packaging, takeaway containers).

Related publications:

Willis, K., BD Hardesty, L Kriwoken and C Wilcox. 2017. Differentiating littering, urban runoff and marine transport as sources of marine debris in coastal and estuarine environments. Scientific reports.

Hardesty, BD, J Harari, A Isobe, L Lebreton, N Maximenko, J Potemra, E van Sebille, AD Vethaak and C Wilcox. Using numerical model simulations to improve the understanding of micro-plastic distribution and pathways in the marine environment. Frontiers in Marine Science.

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