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Public policies to mitigate plastic pollution and adhere to the circular economy: A case study from Ecuador
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This study examines Ecuador as a case study in public policy for plastic pollution management, analyzing national legislation including the Single-Use Plastics Rationalization Law and the Inclusive Circular Economy Law, concluding that Ecuador's regulatory framework offers a transferable model for other countries seeking to reduce plastic production and promote circular economy principles.
La mayoría de los plásticos no se biodegradan, sino que se fragmentan convirtiéndose en microplásticos que contaminan el aire, agua y suelo, donde los animales los consumen y llegan a la cadena alimentaria y agua potable. Además, en 2050 tendrá cerca de 12.000 millones de toneladas de plásticos en vertederos y naturaleza; por lo tanto, los océanos contendrían más plástico que peces. Por ello, este manuscrito usa al Ecuador como un caso de estudio de gestión pública para aplicar acciones que promuevan la industrialización de residuos plásticos y reducción de plásticos de un solo uso, así como la economía circular de este controvertido material por su sobreutilización. La metodología es investigativa-experimental porque recopila información local de las acciones ecuatorianas, pero también se complementa con datos académicos de 2018 a 2022. Los resultados muestran que Ecuador mantiene varias normas legales para monitorear y controlar la reducción de plásticos, la cual está amparada por la Ley de Racionalización, Reutilización y Reducción de Plásticos de un Solo Uso, y la Ley de Economía Circular Inclusiva, sirviendo estos lineamientos como caso de estudio referencial a otros países que buscan reducir la producción y consumo de plásticos. Es evidente la necesidad de un cambio de paradigma en cómo se generan, despachan y tratan los residuos sólidos. Ecuador ha marcado un camino a seguir en materia de residuos plásticos, implementando una normativa que controla los procesos de generación y recuperación de material plástico, incentivando el cambio de una economía lineal a una circular.
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This review pulls together 109 studies showing that plastic and microplastic pollution in Ecuador is everywhere, not just on beaches, but in rivers, high-altitude lakes, glacier snow, and even food and drinking water like seafood, canned tuna, milk, honey, and bottled water. The catch: while people are clearly being exposed to microplastics through their diet, no study has yet actually measured whether this exposure is harming human health, so the real-world risk to your body remains an open question. The bigger takeaway is that Ecuador's waste management and recycling systems have major gaps, meaning this exposure is likely to contin
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