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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Bottlenecks of Global Plastic Strategy and the Way Forward of Microplastics Management
ClearMicroplastics Pollution: Global Challenge and Future Potential Solution
This review summarizes the global challenge of microplastic pollution, attributing it to increasing plastic demand across all sectors combined with poor waste management, and explores potential future solutions for reducing microplastic inputs to water, soil, and air.
The Burden of Microplastics Pollution and Contending Policies and Regulations
This review examines the growing global burden of microplastic pollution and the policies being developed to address it. Researchers found that inadequate waste management systems allow massive amounts of plastic to contaminate terrestrial and aquatic environments, threatening ecosystems and the billions of people who depend on them. The study evaluates existing regulations and suggests that stronger, more coordinated policy frameworks are needed to curb microplastic pollution.
Microplastics: A Review of Policies and Responses
This critical review assembled current knowledge on policies and regulatory responses to plastic pollution globally, including legislative measures, economic instruments, and voluntary commitments. The authors identify a gap between scientific evidence and policy action and call for stronger, more coordinated international governance of plastic pollution.
Recycling and Management of Microplastic Waste
This review examines recycling and management strategies for plastic waste, describing the technical and economic challenges of reducing plastic pollution and the remediation approaches that have been attempted to address microplastic accumulation in the environment.
Microplastics in the environment: An urgent need for coordinated waste management policies and strategies
This review highlights that microplastic pollution affects marine ecosystems, farmland, and human health, but current waste management policies are fragmented and insufficient. The authors evaluate existing strategies and propose practical solutions including better recycling programs, product redesign to reduce plastic use, and coordinated international policy. Addressing the microplastic problem requires not just cleanup technology but systemic changes in how we produce, use, and dispose of plastics.
Marine plastic pollution: A systematic review of management strategies through a macroscope approach
Researchers applied a systems-level framework to review 176 studies on marine plastic pollution management, finding that waste collection infrastructure and freshwater pathways are critically understudied and that no existing strategy — from beach cleanup to biomaterials — is scalable enough to meaningfully reverse the plastic crisis.
Policy priorities: emerging trends in a global response
This policy review examines global regulatory responses to plastic and microplastic pollution, identifying focal areas, gaps, and future directions by drawing parallels to historical policy development around air pollution management.
The Role of Legislation, Regulatory Initiatives and Guidelines on the Control of Plastic Pollution
This review examines existing plastic pollution regulations globally, finding that despite many proposals and national bans, the overall effectiveness of legislation is unclear and most measures focus narrowly on marine plastics or single-use items. The authors argue that laws often lag behind science and face practical limitations given how deeply embedded plastics are in daily life.
Microplastic Pollution Prevention: The Need for Robust Policy Interventions to Close the Loopholes in Current Waste Management Practices
This review argues that current waste management policies have significant gaps that allow microplastic pollution to continue growing despite awareness of the problem. While cleanup technology is improving, prevention through better regulation of plastic production, use, and disposal is more practical and cost-effective. The authors call for stronger policy interventions including extended producer responsibility, bans on unnecessary single-use plastics, and standardized microplastic monitoring.
The Existence of Microplastics as an Emerging Concern in Daily Routines and the Implications of Global Mitigation Efforts
This chapter examines the emergence of microplastics as a growing concern embedded in daily human routines and evaluates global mitigation efforts underway to address this pervasive pollutant. Contributing to an Indonesian post-pandemic outlook volume, the piece situates microplastic pollution within broader environmental governance challenges and assesses the adequacy of current international and national response strategies.
Review of Current Policies on Plastic Discharge and Policy Implications on Microplastic Reduction
Researchers reviewed current global policies addressing plastic discharge and assessed their implications for reducing microplastic pollution. The study highlights the urgency of the problem as outlined by UNEP reports and evaluates how existing regulatory frameworks could be strengthened to more effectively curb microplastic contamination.
Plastic Waste: Challenges and Opportunities to Mitigate Pollution and Effective Management
Researchers reviewed plastic waste generation and management strategies globally, identifying lack of technical skills, inadequate recycling infrastructure, and poor regulatory awareness as the main barriers to addressing the ~400 million tons of plastic produced annually.
Challenges for Regulation and Management of Microplastic in Environment and Proposed Changes
This review examines failures in international law and national regulations to adequately address microplastic pollution in water bodies, arguing that recent treaty negotiations have been insufficient and proposing regulatory changes to better manage microplastics in the environment.
Strategies for efficient management of microplastics to achieve life cycle assessment and circular economy
This review examines strategies for managing microplastic waste through a circular economy and life cycle assessment (LCA) lens, arguing that current recycling practices and waste disposal methods are inadequate given the sheer volume of plastics entering ecosystems. The authors propose a conceptual framework integrating LCA principles into microplastic management to better quantify ecological risks and guide more sustainable plastic use policies.
Global challenges in microplastics: From fundamental understanding to advanced degradations toward sustainable strategies
This review examined global challenges in microplastic research — from environmental entry pathways and fate to human health impacts — and discussed potential degradation strategies, concluding that a combination of photocatalysis, biodegradation, and policy measures will be needed for sustainable management.
Global Material Flow of Macro‐ and Microplastics to Support a Circular Economy
Researchers developed a global material flow analysis of macro- and microplastics to identify where intervention efforts can best support a circular economy. The study found that current plastic waste reduction initiatives are often misaligned with the most impactful leverage points in the plastic material cycle.
Delineating and preventing plastic waste leakage in the marine and terrestrial environment
Researchers outline the global challenge of plastic waste leaking into marine and land environments, tracing the problem to poor waste management, limited recycling technology, and low public awareness. The commentary calls for upstream design changes and downstream cleanup strategies to reduce plastic litter worldwide.
Addressing the microplastic crisis: A multifaceted approach to removal and regulation
Researchers reviewed the growing crisis of microplastic pollution and concluded that no single solution is sufficient — effective action requires combining better wastewater treatment, biodegradable plastic alternatives, stricter regulations, public education, and new detection technologies. They identified major knowledge gaps in understanding the full health and ecological impacts, underscoring the need for global cooperation.
Mapping of global plastic value chain and plastic losses to the environment: with a particular focus on marine environment
This report maps the global plastic value chain from production through use to waste management, estimating that millions of tonnes of plastic enter the ocean each year, with significant regional variation in management capacity. The analysis provides the economic and waste management context needed to understand why plastic pollution — and the resulting microplastic problem — continues to grow globally.
Macro problems from microplastics: Toward a sustainable policy framework for managing microplastic waste in Africa
Researchers critically reviewed regulatory and policy approaches to managing microplastic pollution across African countries. They found that while environmental monitoring studies demonstrate an urgent need for action, the effectiveness of existing plastic waste policies in Africa remains poorly understood. The study proposes a sustainable policy framework tailored to the unique challenges African nations face in reducing microplastic waste generation and environmental contamination.
Challenges and opportunities in sustainable management of microplastics and nanoplastics in the environment
This review examines the challenges and emerging strategies for sustainably managing micro- and nanoplastic pollution in the environment. Researchers assessed various approaches including advanced filtration, biodegradation, chemical recycling, and policy interventions aimed at reducing plastic waste. The study emphasizes that achieving meaningful progress will require combining technological solutions with stronger regulations and changes in how plastics are produced and consumed.
Microplastics in water resources: Global pollution circle, possible technological solutions, legislations, and future horizon
This review summarizes the global scope of microplastic contamination in water and sediment, finding levels that vary enormously -- from near zero to thousands of particles per sample. Microplastics absorb other pollutants from their surroundings, potentially concentrating harmful chemicals, and they infiltrate food chains from the smallest organisms upward. The authors call for stronger legislation and a combination of technological innovation, recycling, and public awareness to address this widespread threat to ecosystems and human health.
Plastic pollution: Where are we regarding research and risk assessment in support of management and regulation?
This review assessed the current state of microplastic research and risk assessment, concluding that more exposure-response studies using standardized methods and material-specific metrics are needed to support effective management and regulation of plastic pollution.
Integrated approaches for plastic waste management
This review surveys the full spectrum of approaches — recycling, biodegradation by microbes, and chemical or physical treatment — for managing the enormous global volume of plastic waste that otherwise persists in the environment for hundreds of years. The authors argue that no single method is sufficient and that an integrated strategy combining multiple techniques is needed to prevent plastics from fragmenting into environmentally harmful microplastics. The review provides a useful overview for policymakers and researchers looking to reduce plastic pollution at scale.