Managing Marine Plastic Pollution: Policy Initiatives to Address Wayward Waste

This study [by Jambeck et al.] provides a first cut at how you could focus efforts in places around the world and then build some strategies to stem that flow of plastics,” says George H. Leonard, chief scientist of Ocean Conservancy, an advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. “Marine debris is a global problem, but this study shows that you can work on a smaller suite of geographies [and] that you could solve a big part of the problem at the global level.” The key, he says, is to improve waste management in a relatively small number of countries. Extended Producer Responsibility Some European nations have developed a model that other countries and regions could emulate to better manage their plastic waste and reduce marine pollution. It is based on the principle of extended producer responsibility (EPR), which was first formally outlined in an internal Swedish government report in 1990.10 The idea behind EPR is to shift financial responsibility for end-of-life disposal to product manufacturers, thereby providing an incentive for improved product design, reuse, and recycling.11 In an EPR scheme, brand owners must pay the costs of tracking, managing, and recycling or disposing of packaging after their products have been used.11 EPR is usually implemented through take-back legislation that requires manufacturers to recover their packaging after product consumption. Some producers pay a fee to organizations that collect and recycle the packaging. Container-deposit s...
Source: EHP Research - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Featured News Spheres of Influence and Policy April 2015 Industry Issues International Environmental Health Laws Marine and Coastal Science Plastics Recycling Regulations Waste Disposal Source Type: research