Iceland is surrounded by the ocean, with more than 5,000 kilometers of coastline. Our seas sustain fisheries, tourism, and communities, but they are also vulnerable to one of today’s most pressing environmental challenges: plastic pollution. Marine litter does not respect boundaries. It arrives with ocean currents, escapes from land-based waste, and is sometimes lost at sea. Tackling it requires cooperation that no single ministry, municipality, or organization can achieve alone.

Iceland already has strong commitments on paper. Its laws and policies clearly call for collaboration across sectors and borders. What is missing is the permanent structure to make that collaboration real. That is where a marine litter network comes into play.

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Iceland’s legal and policy commitments demand cooperation

• Act No. 33/2004 on Marine and Coastal Antipollution emphasizes prevention and preparedness, requiring authorities, municipalities, and industry to coordinate their plans for protection. However, it does not directly define action on marine litter.
• Pollution Prevention Act (No. 7/1998) and Waste Management Act (No. 55/2003) place joint responsibilities on municipalities, state agencies, and producers to prevent and manage pollution effectively. Marine litter itself is also not mentioned, though it is a direcct threat.
• Úr viðjum plastsins — Iceland’s Action Plan on Plastics (2020) repeatedly highlights cooperation: between municipalities and NGOs on beach cleaning, with the fishing sector on gear recovery, and between research institutions and authorities to strengthen monitoring.
• International commitments — from the OSPAR Convention to the Arctic Council’s Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter — require Iceland not only to act nationally, but also to contribute coordinated data and efforts regionally and globally.

Each of these instruments recognizes a simple truth: marine litter is a shared problem that requires shared solutions.

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The gap between commitments and reality

Despite these strong frameworks, implementation has been uneven:

• Many measures under Úr viðjum plastsins remain incomplete.
• Monitoring of beaches and microplastics is limited and inconsistent.
• Local clean-up efforts exist but are fragmented, depending on individual NGOs, municipalities, or volunteer groups.
• Heavily polluted beaches remain largely uncleaned due to lack of man-power and combined focus on these areas.
• Much of Iceland’s plastic waste is still exported, and coordination on recycling or reuse is limited.
• Transboundary litter continues to wash onto our shores, reminding us that international cooperation is only possible if we are organized.

Without a platform to connect actors, share knowledge, and coordinate action, these commitments risk remaining ambitions rather than achievements.

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The case for a network

A marine litter network is the natural response. It would:

• Bring people together: ministries, municipalities, NGOs, fishers, researchers, businesses, and communities, around a shared table.
• Turn laws into practice by helping stakeholders fulfill the cooperation that Iceland’s statutes and policies already require.
• Strengthen monitoring and data by harmonizing methods, ensuring quality, and linking national efforts to Arctic and OSPAR frameworks.
• Support implementation of Úr viðjum plastsins, ensuring that beach cleanups, gear recovery, research and education projects are not scattered but coordinated.
• Provide continuity beyond short-term projects, making sure efforts to reduce marine litter are sustained over time.
• Increase Iceland’s credibility internationally, showing that our commitments to combat marine plastic pollution are backed by solid national structures.

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From obligation to opportunity

The network is not something outside Iceland’s system. It is already written between the lines of our laws, action plans, and international agreements. Creating it is not only about compliance, it is about turning obligations into opportunities: opportunities to innovate, to connect, to lead, and to protect the seas that define our nation.