The unaccountability case of plastic pellet pollution

Karlsson, Therése; Arneborg, Lars; Broström, Göran; Almroth, Bethanie Carney; Gipperth, Lena; Hassellöv, Martin

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.01.041

Cited by 177 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…For example, regulations can and should be used to tackle specific situations such as environmental leakage of nano-and microplastics and use of harmful additives in plastic products. In these cases, immediate alternatives are available, including compulsory filters on washing machines (McIlwraith et al, 2019), upgrades in wastewater treatment plants (Talvitie et al, 2017), regulatory frameworks to better prevent plastic pellet spills (Karlsson et al, 2018) and bans of both toxic plastic additives (Halden, 2010;Kole et al, 2017;Lahimer et al, 2017) and nano-and micro-plastics as ingredients in products (Rochman et al, 2015a;Hernandez et al, 2017).…”

Section: How Will the Contribution Be Governed?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Eliminating Plastic Pollution: How a Voluntary Contribution From Industry Will Drive the Circular Plastics Economy

et al. 2019

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Marine plastic pollution is a symptom of an inherently wasteful linear plastic economy, costing us more than US$ 2.2 trillion per year. Of the 6.3 billion tonnes of fossil fuel-derived plastic (FFP) waste produced to date, only 9% has been recycled; the rest being incinerated (12%) or dumped into the environment (79%). FFPs take centuries to degrade, meaning five billion tonnes of increasingly fragmented and dangerous plastics have accumulated in our oceans, soil and air. Rates of FFP production and waste are growing rapidly, driven by increased demand and shifting strategies of oil and gas companies responding to slowing profit growth. Without effective recycling, the harm caused by FFP waste will keep increasing, jeopardizing first marine life and ultimately humankind. In this Perspective article, we review the global costs of plastic pollution and explain why solving this is imperative for humanity's well-being. We show that FFP pollution is far beyond a marine environmental issue: it now invades our bodies, causing disease and dysfunction, while millions of adults and children work in conditions akin to slavery, picking through our waste. We argue that an integrated economic and technical solution, catalyzed through a voluntary industry-led contribution from new FFP production, is central to arrest plastic waste flows by making used plastic a cashable commodity, incentivizing recovery and accelerating industrialization of polymerto-polymer technologies. Without much-needed systematic transformation, driven by a contribution from FFP production, humanity and the oceans face a troubling future.

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Section: How Will the Contribution Be Governed?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Eliminating Plastic Pollution: How a Voluntary Contribution From Industry Will Drive the Circular Plastics Economy

et al. 2019

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“…This includes MP emissions during e.g. fibre shedding or pellet losses (Karlsson et al 2018). Moreover, it is important to better understand possible leaching of chemicals during the use phase of plastics and their end-of-life.…”

Section: Challenges To Stakeholdersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing the analytical challenges related to micro- and nanoplastics in the environment and food: filling the knowledge gaps

Alexy

Anklam

Emans

et al. 2019

Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A

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This paper identifies knowledge gaps on the sustainability and impacts of plastics and presents some recommendations from an expert group that met at a special seminar organised by the European Commission at the end of 2018. The benefits of plastics in society are unquestionable, but there is an urgent need to better manage their value chain. The recently adopted European Strategy for Plastics stressed the need to tackle the challenges related to plastics with a focus on plastic litter including microplastics. Microplastics have been detected mainly in the marine environment, but also in freshwater, soil and air. Based on today's knowledge they may also be present in food products. Although nanoplastics have not yet been detected, it can be assumed that they are also present in the environment. This emerging issue presents challenges to better understand future research needs and the appropriate immediate actions to be taken to support the necessary societal and policy initiatives. It has become increasingly apparent that a broad and systematic approach is required to achieve sustainable actions and solutions along the entire supply chain. It is recognised that there is a pressing need for the monitoring of the environment and food globally. However, despite the number of research projects increasing, there is still a lack of suitable and validated analytical methods for detection and quantification of micro-and nanoplastics. There is also a lack of hazard and fate data which would allow for their risk assessment. Some priorities are identified in this paper to bridge the knowledge gaps for appropriate management of these challenges. At the same time it is acknowledged that there is a great complexity in the challenges that need to be tackled before a really comprehensive environmental assessment of plastics, covering their entire life cycle, will be possible. ARTICLE HISTORY

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“…The Top 3 categories of items collected are plastic preproduction pellets [2] , unidentified plastic fragments and plastic sticks (cotton bud and lollipop sticks; [1] . Plastic preproduction pellets are 15 times more numerous than gastropod shells.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Plastic debris dataset on the Seine river banks: Plastic pellets, unidentified plastic fragments and plastic sticks are the Top 3 items in a historical accumulation of plastics

Tramoy

Colasse²,

Gaspéri

et al. 2019

Data in Brief

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Plastic pollution in oceans and rivers is of high concern because of its persistence in the environment and its potential impact on ecosystems. However, there is a specific lack of data in rivers. Here we present data from the Seine river banks in a historical polluted shore. Data were classified using international MSFD and OSPAR classifications. The sampled site is a quadrat of 1 m2 located downstream in the estuary in a visual maximum along a 1 km shore covered by plastics. A total of 20,259 plastic debris were individually counted, classified and weighted by category for a total mass higher than 4 kg. Half of the plastic debris in number are represented by preproduction pellets.

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The unaccountability case of plastic pellet pollution

Cited by 177 publications

References 31 publications

Eliminating Plastic Pollution: How a Voluntary Contribution From Industry Will Drive the Circular Plastics Economy

Eliminating Plastic Pollution: How a Voluntary Contribution From Industry Will Drive the Circular Plastics Economy

Managing the analytical challenges related to micro- and nanoplastics in the environment and food: filling the knowledge gaps

Plastic debris dataset on the Seine river banks: Plastic pellets, unidentified plastic fragments and plastic sticks are the Top 3 items in a historical accumulation of plastics

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