A live demonstration of marine litter collection will take place off the French coast early next month to highlight to the media how such waste is dealt with.
Last December the European Commission highlighted the fight against marine litter as a priority for the successful development of its ‘Circular Economy Package'.
The demonstration is being organise of the Brittany coast by Alain Cadec, a member of the European Parliament, chairman of the Fisheries Committee, and chairman of the Department of Côtes d'Armor, and Thierry Burlot, president of the Waste Sorting Centre Kerval Centre Armor and vice-president of the Bretagne Region in charge of the Environment.
The event is being hosted in collaboration with the Waste Free Oceans Foundation (WFO).
The demo will take place on 8 July at the port of Erquy, off the north French coast. Fishermen from the Fisheries Committee of the Department of Côtes d'Armor will demonstrate how they collect floating marine litter with the help of a specially-designed WFO trawl device.
Once it is collected, the waste will be transferred to a nearby sorting centre, where it will be sorted before being processed.
Cadec said: “Organising this marine litter collection enables us to initiate a collaboration between the fishing industry and the local recycling sector.
“This demonstration is a concrete local example of the circular economy in which fishermen have an important role.”