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Navigating regulatory complexity: Challenges and shifting problem framings in turning microplastics into a European policy object
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This paper analyzed the challenges regulators face in governing micro- and nanoplastics, examining how shifting problem framings, ambiguous definitions, and material heterogeneity have destabilized regulatory efforts. The study traced how disputes over whether microplastics are a safety or environmental issue have complicated the development of coherent international regulatory frameworks.
In recent years, policymakers have struggled to address the problem of micro-(nano-)plastics in our environment due to their ambiguous definition and material heterogeneity. This complexity makes it difficult to establish stable policy objects for regulation. However, regulatory efforts are also embedded in regular disputes over whether microplastics are a problem to be regulated or not (e.g. Backhaus & Wagner, 2020), shedding light on conflicting individual perspectives, value judgments and scientific backgrounds. While microplastics have been a matter of observation since the early 1970s, it has only gradually become a "matter of concern" and, at a later stage, a "matter of regulation". Indicators of these changes can be found both in the sharp increase in scientific publications on microplastics over the past two decades and in the growing media attention to the phenomenon. Three important shifts in the framing of microplastics as a concern can be observed: (1) the focus has broadened from the marine environment to freshwater, air and soil; (2) the issue has grown from marine environmental health to human health, particularly in the last five years; and (3) nanoplastics have been added to the discussion, raising questions about the future degradation of plastics in the environment. This presentation will trace the problem framing and modes of argumentation in European policy making through an examination of key policy documents and interviews with European policy makers. It will identify the regulatory tools available to address micro(nano)plastic issues and discuss their potential in becoming a way of caring for our environmental futures. This research is part of the ERC Advanced Grant project Ïnnovation Residues: Modes and Infrastructures of Caring for Our Longue-Durée Environmental Futures(̈PI: Ulrike Felt, GA 1010545), which examines how different societal arenas understand, make sense of and care for the residues of their innovation activities, in particular microplastics. Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/559629/document
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