During the UN Ocean Conference in New York (5-9 June) the German Government made the following commitment related to marine litter: 'Implementation of Ten-point Plan of Action for Marine Conservation and Sustainable Fisheries of the German Development Co-operation in which one field of action is the reduction of land-based marine littering.'

The Marine Strategy of Germany under the MSFD has the following national overarching environmental target for marine litter: “Seas without pressures from litter”. The Programme of Measures (PoM) also further establishes 3 operational environmental targets for the German parts of both the Baltic and the North Sea:

• Continual reduction of inputs and reduction of existing levels of litter leading to a significant reduction in litter that has a harmful effect on the marine environment on beaches, at the sea surface, in the water column and on the seabed.
• Levels of litter in marine organisms (especially microplastics) that are proven to be harmful tend towards zero in the long term.
• Other adverse ecological effects (such as entanglement and strangulation in items of litter) are reduced to a minimum.

Within the national Programme of Measures a number of measures have been defined specifically addressing marine litter. A National Round Table on Marine Litter was established in 2016 in order to facilitate the implementation of the MSFD at the national level, as well as the implementation of the mentioned action plans. The round table involves stakeholders from industry, academia, NGOs, as well as administration from municipalities, state and federal governments.

Source: Arroyo Schnell, A., Klein N., Gómez Girón, E., Sousa, J., 2017. National marine plastic litter policies in EU Member States: an overview. Brussels, Belgium: IUCN viii+64 pp.