Conceptualizing the Transnational Regulation of Plastics: Moving Towards a Preventative and Just Agenda for Plastics

Abstract

This article categorizes and evaluates how regulatory regimes conceptualize plastics, and how such conceptualizations affect the production, consumption, and disposal of plastics. Taking a doctrinal and policy-oriented approach, it identifies four ‘frames’ – that is, four distinct and coherent sets of meanings attributed to plastics within transnational regulation – namely, plastics as waste to be managed; a material to be prevented; a good (or waste) to be traded freely; and inputs or outputs in production-consumption systems. Based on this analysis, three significant deficiencies in the transnational regulation of plastics are identified: the failure to frame plastics in terms of environmental justice and human rights issues; insufficient focus on plastics prevention (rather than management); and the role of law in reinforcing its production and consumption.

Design for Recycling Strategies Based on the Life Cycle Assessment and End of Life Options of Plastics in a Circular Economy

“…Johnson et al analyzed the importance of transnational regulation for the production, consumption, and disposal of plastics and identified three significant deficiencies, that is, failure to consider plastics in terms of environmental justice and human rights, insufficient plastics prevention, as well as the role of law in reinforcing plastics production and consumption. [25] Nevertheless, more and more countries ban or restrict the use of plastics, especially the use of single-use plastics (i.e., plastic bags, straws, stir sticks, cutlery, plates, …) and microbeads in cosmetics and cleaning products. [26] Among the countries that have or are planning to ban single-use plastic items are Australia, Canada, China, Europe, India, Kenya, UK, some states of the USA, and Zimbabwe.…”

“…To understand the environmental impacts of products from different materials, comparative LCAs have also been done between plastics and other materials like "glass" (22). Many LCA studies focus on specific types of plastic products ("plastic bottles" (20)), sector ("electronic wastes" (25), "packaging" (34), material type ("Polyethylene Terephthalate" (21), "Polymers" (25) "Elastomers" (49)), impacts ("Gas emissions" (27), "Greenhouse gases" (38), "carbon dioxide" (27)). There was also an increase in the presence of terms like "circular economy" (coincides with the circular economy policy initiatives across the world to conserve resources thereby mitigating climate change (39)), [31][32][33] "sustainable development" (coincides with the introduction of SDGs) [34] (53), and most likely the potential or the relevance of it in the "plastics industry" (21) in the last few years.…”

Legal, Regulatory, and Governance Innovation in Transnational Environmental Law

“…57 Transnational environmental regulation (TER) is also a site of ongoing transformation and evolution. 58 The article by Hope Johnson, Zoe Nay, Rowena Maguire, Leonie Barner, Alice Payne, and Manuela Taboada, 'Conceptualizing the Transnational Regulation of Plastics: Moving Towards a Preventative and Just Agenda for Plastics', 59 valuably contributes to TER scholarship by analyzing the transnational regulation of plastics. While previous analyses have focused on treaty design to address fragmentation in multilateral environmental agreements covering plastics, the analysis by Johnson and co-authors adopts a novel lens to develop 'a more comprehensive map of the transnational regulatory governance for plastics'.…”

The politics of anti-plastics activism in Indonesia and Malaysia

“…Research on the political, social, and environmental consequences of anti-plastics activism in developing countries is growing (Hanson, 2017;Cristi et al, 2020;Shipton and Dauvergne, 2022;Pathak, 2023). This knowledge is feeding into a broader, rapidly emerging body of research on the global environmental politics of plastics (Dauvergne, 2018a(Dauvergne, , 2018bMendenhall, 2018;Vince and Hardesty, 2018;O'Neill, 2019;Stoett and Vince, 2019;Nielsen et al, 2020;Cowan and Tiller, 2021;Farrelly et al, 2021;Mah, 2021Mah, , 2022Bailey, 2022;Johnson et al, 2022;Stoett, 2022;Tiller et al, 2022;Chertkovskaya et al, 2023). To advance this research, this article reviews the existing literature, nongovernmental websites, and media publications on anti-plastics activism in Indonesia and Malaysia, building on interviews in 2022 and 2023 with activists and nonprofit leaders in these countries.…”