World Bank Environmental Specialist highlights Georgian Gov’t’s steps to eliminate dangers of plastic pollution

Klaus Sattler, an Environmental Specialist of the World Bank, has highlighted the Georgian Government’s “important steps” as part of international policy development to eliminate the dangers of plastic pollution, the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia said on Friday.

The Ministry said a working meeting hosted within the Bank's PROBLUE initiative - aiming to support the development of integrated, sustainable and healthy marine and coastal resources - featured Deputy Minister Solomon Pavliashvili, representatives of local and central governments and non-governmental organisations.

The meeting covered discussions on technology for collecting plastic waste found in rivers and the Black Sea, identifying plastic-contaminated hotspots and improving plastic waste management policies.

Pavliashvili emphasised development of a unified policy for preservation of biodiversity for countries of the Black Sea basin, and noted they, including Georgia, should “ensure care for preserving the biodiversity of the Sea”.

Plastic pollution of oceans, seas and rivers is a global problem. It is important to study the level of pollution of the Black Sea and ways to eliminate this problem. It should be considered that fragmented cleaning of the sea will not bring long-term results - this issue requires a complex approach”, he said.

The Georgian Government developed a national plastic waste prevention programme in 2021 to combat pollution and joined the High Ambition Coalition that aims to completely eliminate plastic pollution by 2040 the same year.