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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Reducing plastic waste
ClearPreventing single-use plastic waste
This policy chapter reviews strategies for preventing single-use plastic waste, covering bans, fees, deposit-return schemes, and extended producer responsibility programs. Single-use plastics account for approximately half of all plastic waste and are a major source of environmental microplastic contamination. The chapter evaluates the effectiveness and design of different policy instruments for reducing single-use plastic consumption.
Addressing the single-use plastic proliferation problem
This review examined the effectiveness of single-use plastic bans as a policy tool for addressing plastic pollution, evaluating evidence on their environmental impact and discussing alternative regulatory approaches. The authors found that while bans have reduced certain plastic categories, broader systemic changes to plastic production and waste management are needed.
Break Free from Plastics: Environmental Perspectives and Evidence from Rwanda
This paper reviews plastic pollution challenges in Rwanda and sub-Saharan Africa, documenting evidence of microplastic contamination in inland and coastal waters and evaluating the effectiveness of plastic bans and extended producer responsibility policies in reducing plastic waste.
Perspectives on Plastic Waste Management: Challenges and Possible Solutions to Ensure Its Sustainable Use
This review argues that banning all plastics is not realistic and instead calls for better waste management, recycling technology, and circular economy approaches to reduce plastic pollution. The authors outline strategies including biodegradable alternatives, improved recycling infrastructure, and policy changes to minimize plastic entering the environment. Reducing plastic waste at the source is critical for lowering human exposure to microplastics in food, water, and air.
Single-use Plastic Ban and its Public Health Impacts: A Narrative Review
This review examines global policies and bans on single-use plastics, finding that they have helped reduce plastic pollution in some regions. However, enforcement and public health impacts vary widely, and more consistent international policy is needed to effectively address plastic waste.
Transforming the Plastic Industry: Global Regulatory Evolution and Sustainability Trends (2018-2024)
Researchers analyzed the evolution of plastic governance frameworks across ten major economies from 2018 to 2024, documenting regulatory milestones including single-use plastic bans and extended producer responsibility schemes and assessing progress toward sustainability goals in the global plastics industry.
Impact of Policy Design on Plastic Waste Reduction in Africa
This paper is not about microplastics; it analyzes the design and effectiveness of single-use plastic bag policies across 39 African countries, identifying policy gaps that allow plastic waste to persist despite widespread bans.
Global Plastic Pollution and the Transition Towards a Circular Economy: Lessons from the EU’s Legal Framework on Plastics
This paper reviews the EU legal framework on plastics and the transition toward a circular economy, examining how regulatory instruments including the Single-Use Plastics Directive and extended producer responsibility schemes can reduce the billions of tons of plastic waste generated annually.
Management strategies for single-use plastics: lessons to learn from Indian approach of minimizing microplastic waste
A review of India's experience with banning single-use plastics identified key lessons for effective policy design, including enforcement challenges and the importance of viable alternatives. The authors argue that managing single-use plastic waste is essential for reducing downstream microplastic pollution.
Exploring Plastic-Management Policy in China: Status, Challenges and Policy Insights
Researchers reviewed China's plastic management policies and found that despite being the world's largest plastic producer, existing regulations remain insufficient, recommending strengthened extended producer responsibility and circular economy approaches to control plastic pollution.
Overview of Legal and Policy Framework Approaches for Plastic Bag Waste Management in African Countries
This systematic review examines how African countries have used bans and fees to manage plastic bag waste since 2004. It found that poor enforcement, industry resistance, and lack of affordable alternatives have limited the effectiveness of these policies across the continent. Reducing plastic bag use is important because bags break down into microplastics that contaminate soil, water, and food.
A systematic literature review of voluntary behaviour change approaches in single use plastic reduction
This systematic review examines efforts to voluntarily reduce single-use plastic consumption through behavior change rather than legislation. The research finds that while government bans on plastics are effective, voluntary approaches that respect individual choice can also make a difference. Understanding what motivates people to reduce plastic use is key to tackling the microplastic pollution problem at its source.
Plastic Waste Regime in Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa: A Comparative Case Study
This comparative study examines plastic waste management policies in Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa, highlighting how each country has taken different approaches. Rwanda emphasizes comprehensive recycling and community engagement, Kenya implemented a ban on plastic bags, and South Africa adopted extended producer responsibility. The study suggests that while these diverse strategies have had varying success, they offer valuable lessons for reducing plastic pollution in developing nations.
Integrated Recycling and The Impact of Plastic Waste from Industry and Agriculture on The Environment
This review examined the environmental impacts of plastic waste from industrial and agricultural sources and assessed integrated recycling strategies for reducing those impacts. The paper discussed how plastic waste prevention, collection, and recycling can minimize pollution and climate contributions from the growing global plastic waste stream.
Analysis of plastic waste reduction and recycling in Taiwan
This paper analyzes Taiwan's plastic waste reduction and recycling policies over recent years, finding improvements in recycling rates but ongoing challenges with single-use plastics and microplastic pollution. The Taiwanese experience offers policy lessons relevant to other countries grappling with plastic waste 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.
Environmental Impact of Plastic Waste: Strategies for Sustainable Management
This systematic review summarizes the environmental and health impacts of plastic waste and evaluates strategies for sustainable management. It highlights that plastic pollution threatens ecosystems and human health through microplastic contamination, and examines approaches like recycling, biodegradable alternatives, and policy interventions to reduce exposure.
Attitudes towards Plastic Pollution: A Review and Mitigations beyond Circular Economy
This review examined attitudes of consumers, industries, and governments toward plastic pollution, identifying behavioral barriers and synthesizing mitigation strategies that go beyond circular economy frameworks to address systemic plastic over-consumption.
Influence of Plastic Waste Management on the Environment: A review
This review examined how different plastic waste management practices influence environmental outcomes, discussing the limitations of landfilling, incineration, and recycling for fossil-based plastics that persist in the environment for hundreds of years. The paper argued that transitioning to a circular economy is essential to reduce the environmental burden of plastic waste.
Banning Plastic
This legal article argues that outright bans on single-use plastics are the most effective policy tool for reducing plastic pollution, examining how local, state, and national bans create regulatory tipping points. While not a field study, it is directly relevant to the microplastics problem because fewer plastic products entering the environment means less feedstock for the microplastic particles that contaminate ecosystems and human food chains.
A review of the cost and effectiveness of solutions to address plastic pollution
This review evaluates the cost and effectiveness of solutions to plastic pollution, from recycling technologies to policy measures like bans and levies. As of 2017, only 9% of the 9 billion tons of plastic ever produced had been recycled, leaving enormous amounts to break down into microplastics that contaminate the environment. The authors conclude that no single solution is sufficient and that combining multiple approaches is needed to reduce the health and economic impacts of plastic pollution.
Plastic Waste and Pollution: An Evidence-Based review to Support WUP Policy Formation
This evidence-based review synthesized global literature on plastic pollution to support policy development at Wesleyan University Philippines, finding that inefficient waste management, single-use plastics, and low public awareness are the main drivers and recommending bans, recycling investment, and education programs.
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.
A great many Rs
This chapter reviewed plastic waste management approaches through the lens of the traditional waste hierarchy (reduce, reuse, recycle), discussing how geographic inequalities in waste management capacity create linked environmental impacts across countries. The relative sustainability of different measures was evaluated alongside recognition that plastic pollution patterns in one region are often driven by consumption and disposal elsewhere.