MSPs must act on plastics

Sir, I believe the Scottish Government must go further in the fight to address the occurrence of microplastics around beaches and shores.

Politicians should support the establishment of a microplastics baseline to monitor the effectiveness of current environmental policy.

Recent research from Heriot-Watt University’s Centre for Marine Biodiversity and Biotechnology reveals that the levels of microplastics in the Firth of Forth have not changed significantly in the last five years, indicating that the sources of microplastics are still not being adequately addressed.

A levy on single-use plastic items implemented by the Scottish Government helps to influence consumer behaviour locally - as seen with the plastic bag tax. It is not a uniquely Scottish problem, but it would send a strong signal to governments of other countries.

We need a baseline for all UK waters so that we can assess the impact of government policies that aim to reduce marine pollution, such as the microbead ban. At present we only have a patchwork of data from studies in Scotland and comparable North Sea locations.

The growing amount of data regarding plastic litter contamination in the marine environment has led to the need for understanding the related risks not only to the health of marine life, but to humans as well. Microplastics are working their way into our food chain.

The data from the Firth of Forth provides a local snapshot but our recent research there, as well as in Shetland and the Hebrides, indicates that a much wider Scotland and UK-wide monitoring programme is required to generate a baseline against which to measure the effectiveness of Scottish and international policy measures. Dr Mark Hartl, associate professor of marine biology, Heriot-Watt University