A binding global agreement to address the life cycle of plastics

Simon, Nils; Raubenheimer, Karen; Urho, Niko; Unger, Sebastian; Azoulay, David; Farrelly, Trisia; Sousa, J.; Asselt, Harro van; Carlini, G; Sekomo, Christian; Schulte, Maro Luisa; Busch, Per Olof; Wienrich, Nicole; Weiand, Laura

doi:10.1126/science.abi9010

Cited by 145 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Local and national responses, like effective eco-tourism, plastic sorting and disposal program, and inclusive and participatory decision-making and forest-management/conservation are also critical to protect the future of this invaluable blue carbon ecosystem. Plastics reduction approaches at local level have recently been suggested (Lebreton and Andrady, 2019;Lau et al, 2020;Simon et al, 2021). For instance, Lebreton and Andrady (2019) proposed a scenario (Scenario B) where facilities or infrastructures for plastic waste management need to be improved according to per capita gross domestic product grows (Figure 1B).…”

Section: Looking Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

World's Largest Mangrove Forest Becoming Plastic Cesspit

Adyel

Macreadie

2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Plastic is considered as hazardous waste (Rochman et al., 2013) and planetary transboundary pollution (Villarrubia-Gómez et al., 2018;Tessnow-von Wysocki and Le Billon, 2019). Plastics in different forms-including marine litter, plastic debris, meso-plastics, and microplastics-are now ubiquitously distributed in the environment (Jambeck et al., 2015;Napper and Thompson, 2020). The world's largest single mangrove forest, the UNESCO Marine World Heritage-listed Sundarbans between Bangladesh and India, is under immense threat of plastic pollution. A Ramsar site and a Class 3 Tiger Conservation Landscape of global priority for endangered and flagship species Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris)-the Sundarbans, is historically threatened by many challenges, like over-exploitation, commercial farming and development activities, climate change-induced hazards, and natural disasters (Sen, 2019;Mukul et al., 2020).Bangladesh and India, the benefit and management sharing countries of the Sundarbans, are ranked among the top twelve mismanaged plastic waste (herein also "plastics") generating nations (Jambeck et al., 2015) and are discharging plastic waste downstream through rivers and coasts (Figure 1A) making the Sundarbans a cesspit for plastic waste. Moreover, this mangrove is formed and modified by the super confluence of the world's 15th longest river Brahmaputra/Jamuna, along the transboundary rivers Ganges/Padma and Meghna. These rivers are among the top ten global plastic waste carriers, transporting over 72,000 tonnes of plastics annually before emptying into the Bay of Bengal (Schmidt et al., 2017). A recent study estimated that the combined flows of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers can discharge up to 3 billion pieces of microplastics per day into the Bay of Bengal (Napper et al., 2021). Moreover, all the river systems in Bangladesh and India discharge about 4 million tonnes of plastic waste to the Bay of Bengal per annum. The Sundarbans Bangladesh has 177 rivers receiving water from three main rivers and flowing through it to the Bay of Bengal (Banglapedia, 2012) making the Sundarbans as a basin for the long-term accumulation of plastic waste. If current business as usual trend of 2015 and consumer demand for plastic increases with economy continue, Bangladesh and India can generate about 3 and 52 million tonnes of plastics, respectively by 2060 (Figures 1B,C) (Lebreton and Andrady, 2019).The Bay of Bengal is the largest bay in the world and several littoral countries including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand uses its resources. Different river systems of these countries also release plastics to the Bay of Bengal (Figure 1D). Rivers are key vectors for transporting plastics to oceans and bays (Lebreton et al., 2017;Meijer et al., 2021). The discharge of plastics from the littoral countries around the Bay of Bengal is projected to increase up to 5-times by 2025 compared to that of 2010 (Jambeck et al., 2015). Data-driven mechanistic and Plastics-to-Ocean (P 2 O) models indi...

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Section: Looking Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

World's Largest Mangrove Forest Becoming Plastic Cesspit

Adyel

Macreadie

2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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“…When a global agreement on plastic governance gets on the global governance agenda, it needs to not only include attainable solutions, but it must consider how plastic becomes used, discarded, and renewed at national levels worldwide. A challenge identified by Simon et al (2021) is that waste pickers have become a common job in less developed countries, leading to employment of otherwise unemployed citizens. We argue that a global agreement must take this into consideration and enhance the jobs available for recycling facilities in all countries.…”

Section: Can One Size Fit All?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These schemes must also be obligatory and include monitoring on various levels, with reporting including both quantitative and qualitative data sets. If these measures are implemented it will help transform the entire value chain of plastics, create competitive advantages to producers and retailers, create jobs, and ensue healthy ecosystems and livelihoods (Simon et al, 2021).…”

Section: Industry Responsibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Any governance solution will require a broad range of actors from the ground up on multiple levels of policymakers, industry, and stakeholders. The years following an agreement a framework must be in place as a science-policy interface must support the transfer of knowledge between the expert community and policymakers (Simon et al, 2021).…”

Section: Science-policy Interfacementioning

confidence: 99%

“…We can achieve this by reducing production of virgin plastics (Simon et al, 2021), increasing profitability of postconsumer plastic, eliminating harmful chemicals, and providing legislative support to the recycling industry (Raubenheimer and McIlgorm, 2018b). Embedded within the agreement must be encouragement of private investment in collection and sorting centers, full recycling of post-consumer material, and shifting economies to the circular model (Raubenheimer and McIlgorm, 2018a).…”

Section: Treaty Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What Shall We Do With a Sea of Plastics? A Systematic Literature Review on How to Pave the Road Toward a Global Comprehensive Plastic Governance Agreement

Cowan

Tiller

2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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In February 2022, the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA) is expected to mandate negotiations for a legally binding plastic agreement. In preparations for such discussions, it is important to understand the academic research behind what a global treaty on plastic will require to succeed. Therefore, a systematic literature review was conducted on 64 peer-reviewed articles published before July 4th, 2021, that focused on global plastic governance and avenues to mitigate our pollution crisis. Once reviewed, the articles were organized into a series of four main categories: (1) plastic pollution overview articles, (2) top-down solutions, (3) bottom-up solutions, and finally a (4) global treaty as a solution. The analysis of these articles enabled an overarching review and discussion of what the literature suggested is required for the creation of a global plastics agreement. First, the researchers argued that previous global plastics governance literature is characterized by an optimist governance perspective, i.e., a view of governance as a problem-solving mechanism. Second, global plastics governance as a research field could make headway by engaging in further empirical investigation of current negotiations and solutions at the national level, especially in developing nations. In the end we found that a global agreement is feasible if it allows for multi-stakeholder solutions involving industry, governance, stakeholders, and citizens.

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From Polyester Plastics to Diverse Monomers via Low‐Energy Upcycling

Ji,

Meng,

et al. 2024

Advanced Science

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Polyester plastics, constituting over 10% of the total plastic production, are widely used in packaging, fiber, single‐use beverage bottles, etc. However, their current depolymerization processes face challenges such as non‐broad spectrum recyclability, lack of diversified high‐value‐added depolymerization products, and crucially high energy consumption. Herein, an efficient strategy is developed for dismantling the compact structure of polyester plastics to achieve diverse monomer recovery. Polyester plastics undergo swelling and decrystallization with a low depolymerization energy barrier via synergistic effects of polyfluorine/hydrogen bonding, which is further demonstrated via density functional theory calculations. The swelling process is elucidated through scanning electron microscopy analysis. Obvious destruction of the crystalline region is demonstrated through X‐ray crystal diffractometry curves. PET undergoes different aminolysis efficiently, yielding nine corresponding high‐value‐added monomers via low‐energy upcycling. Furthermore, four types of polyester plastics and five types of blended polyester plastics are closed‐loop recycled, affording diverse monomers with exceeding 90% yields. Kilogram‐scale depolymerization of real polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste plastics is successfully achieved with a 96% yield.

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A binding global agreement to address the life cycle of plastics

Abstract: To eliminate plastic pollution, a holistic approach is needed

Cited by 145 publications

References 8 publications

World's Largest Mangrove Forest Becoming Plastic Cesspit

World's Largest Mangrove Forest Becoming Plastic Cesspit

What Shall We Do With a Sea of Plastics? A Systematic Literature Review on How to Pave the Road Toward a Global Comprehensive Plastic Governance Agreement

From Polyester Plastics to Diverse Monomers via Low‐Energy Upcycling

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