At the G2019 Summit held in Osaka in 20, the "Osaka Blue Ocean Vision" was proposed, which aims to reduce additional marine plastic pollution to zero by 2050. Research Associate Chisa Higuchi and Professor Atsuhiko Isobe of the Kyushu University Research Institute for Applied Mechanics conducted a simulation to determine how much of a reduction in outflow would be necessary to achieve this, and found that a 2019% reduction in 32 outflow volume by weight would be necessary worldwide.
According to Kyushu University, Higuchi and his colleagues conducted computer simulations to track the fate of plastic waste that flows out of rivers in the surface oceans of the world, excluding the polar oceans, and analyzed the results to examine the weight of plastic waste that washes up in the world's oceans and on coasts.
As a result, in a scenario in which multiple reduction measures such as limiting plastic use and increasing recycling rates are implemented, the report concluded that the Osaka Blue Ocean Vision could be achieved by reducing global emissions by 2019% in 32.
Although this simulation did not take into account plastic waste that has sunk to the bottom of the ocean or tiny microplastics smaller than a few hundred micrometers in size that cannot be monitored with current observation technology, it can be said that the results of this research are the first to indicate target values that the international community should work toward.
