Scotland is leading the way in protecting marine environments, Nicola Sturgeon announced on Wednesday.
The First Minister addressed international delegates attending Scotland’s International Marine Conference in Glasgow.
She revealed a £175,000 campaign to promote the use of re-usable sanitary products, which will reduce more than 100 billion pieces of sanitary waste disposed of every year.
Read more: Take action on plastic
The funding is made up of Scottish Government funding and Zero Waste Scotland’s Resource Efficient Circular Economy Accelerator Programme, which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The Scottish Government is also expected to publish proposals in the coming weeks to make it an offence to throw litter overboard from all Scottish fishing vessels while at sea.
It is also the first in the UK to commit to a ban on plastic stemmed cotton buds.
The reveal comes after the Isle of Arran was named Scotland's first plastic-free community by Surfers Against Sewage.
Read more: Isle of Arran is Scotland's first plastic-free community
The First Minister said: "Scotland continues to lead the way in protecting our marine environments and the size of Scotland’s marine protected area is testament to our commitment to protecting important habitats and species.
"This new campaign to promote re-usable sanitary products expands our existing efforts to tackle the problem of single use plastic.
"Following the successful introduction of legislation to ban plastic microbeads in rinse-off personal care products, we are the first in the UK to commit to a ban on plastic stemmed cotton buds.
"It is also important we tackle the smaller, but not insignificant, proportion of litter which comes from our marine industries.
"Our paper on the future of fisheries management will seek views on how we can ensure the fishing sector play their part in protecting the marine environment.”
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