In recent years, the world has become more aware of the dangers that plastic trash causes within our oceans. Because of this, the EPA or the Environmentl Protection Agency, has passed some laws, treaties, and regulations to help stop the problem7.
Land - Based Laws:
Beach Act
Clean Water Act
Pollution Prevention Act
Resouce Conservation
and Recovery Act
Ocean - Based Laws
Shore Protection Act
Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act
Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act
On a website called Ocean Conservancy, it talked about something known as the International Coastal CLeanup. During this event, volunteers clean coastal beaches and local waterways in 97 countries across the world2. The photo shown above shows the top 10 countries that participated in this event. This year, the International Coastal Cleanup is on September 20th, 2014.
http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/international-coastal-cleanup/top-10-participating-1.html