Note: This article was originally published in The Jakarta Post on 1 August 2019. Dr Michikazu Kojima and Fusanori Iwasaki are the authors.

Marine plastic pollution has been acknowledged in recent years as one of the major global environmental issues and challenges. Since the beginning of 2019, movements to combat marine plastic pollution have accelerated around the world. At the end of June 2019, Japan hosted the Group of 20 Summit in Osaka, which advanced the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Energy Transitions and Global Environment for Sustainable Growth on June 15 to 16 in Karuizawa, Japan. (Read the full article by using the link above).