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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Recommendation: Risky plastic and the limits to consumer responsibilization — R0/PR4
ClearRecommendation: Global perceptions of plastic pollution: The contours and limits of debate — R0/PR4
This is a peer review recommendation for a study analyzing 39 published papers on public perceptions of plastic pollution, finding that research has focused mainly on marine ecosystems, single-use plastics, and microplastic risks while underexploring broader production reduction and climate-plastics links. The paper notes that framing choices in terminology shape public understanding and policy responses to the plastic pollution crisis.
Enhancing consumption responsibility to address global plastic pollution
This study examined how to enhance consumption responsibility as a strategy to address global plastic pollution, arguing that excessive consumption and unsound disposal drive marine and microplastic contamination and that a new global governance framework is needed to establish individual and collective accountability.
Micro-consumerist bollocks in the fight against plastic pollution: when good intentions - and regulatory initiatives - go awry
This commentary critiques individual-level consumer actions as insufficient responses to plastic pollution, arguing that regulatory initiatives focused on micro-consumerism have very limited impact on the scale of plastic contamination. The authors call for systemic policy changes targeting production and industrial waste rather than consumer behavior.
Recommendation: Current and future approaches to shifting businesses towards plastic-free packaging systems based on reduction and reuse — R0/PR4
This policy recommendation paper examines strategies for transitioning businesses away from plastic packaging toward reduction and reuse systems. While relevant to plastic pollution broadly, it is not focused on microplastics as a contaminant and contains no microplastic research data.
Recommendation: Addressing climate change mitigation: Implications for the sustainable alternatives to plastics — R0/PR4
This peer review recommendation discusses a paper on plastic waste accumulation and sustainable alternatives to plastics in the context of climate change mitigation. The document is part of the open peer review record and does not contain independent research findings.
A New Philosophy For Sustainable Consumerism
This paper proposed a new philosophy for sustainable consumerism in response to growing awareness of unsustainable practices, including the entry of microplastics into the food chain. The framework argued that businesses and governments must respond to consumer and community pressure by structurally shifting toward sustainable production and consumption models.
Consumer Awareness of Plastic: an Overview of Different Research Areas
Researchers analyzed consumer awareness of plastic across environmental science, engineering, and materials science literature using bibliometric methods, finding that each discipline frames plastic concerns differently and that a significant gap exists between what researchers prioritize and the plastic-related concerns of everyday consumers.
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.
Recommendation: Uncertainties about waste using an online survey and review approach: Environmentalist perceptions, household waste compositions and views from media and science — R0/PR2
A survey combined with a mini-review explored individuals' perceptions of their own waste generation, finding general concern about plastic pollution but limited understanding of personal contribution. Better public awareness of household plastic waste behaviors is important for designing effective policies to reduce the plastic entering the environment and eventually fragmenting into microplastics.
Review: Global perceptions of plastic pollution: The contours and limits of debate — R1/PR7
A peer review of a study analyzing public perceptions of plastic pollution found that research mainly focuses on marine impacts and single-use plastics. The reviewer suggests future work should examine broader risk perceptions including toxic chemicals in plastics and links to climate change.
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.
Our Shared Responsibility to End Plastic Pollution, Protect Human Health, and Advance Social Justice for All
This chapter argues that continued growth in plastic production is ethically indefensible given its demonstrated harms to all life on Earth, calling for global treaty commitments and a fundamental rethinking of how governments, corporations, and individuals relate to plastic consumption.
Our life with plastic, a review of plastic product abuse in the age of consumerism
This review examines the psychology, sociology, and culture of plastic consumerism alongside the scientific evidence for microplastic health harms, arguing that social sciences should complement natural science research by promoting rational product choices and awareness.
Responsible Materials Stewardship: Rethinking Waste Management Globally in Consideration of Social and Ecological Externalities and Increasing Waste Generation
This perspective paper argues that current global waste management systems are fundamentally inadequate because they focus on disposal efficiency rather than reducing waste generation, with plastic's exponential production growth making the problem worse. The authors propose reframing waste management as 'responsible materials stewardship' — a system accounting for the full social and environmental costs of materials — to address the pollution, inequality, and ecosystem harm driven by mismanaged plastic and other wastes.
Role of Plastics in Modern Life: Benefits, Risks and Environmental Consequences
This review examines the dual role of plastics in modern society — their economic benefits alongside environmental and public health risks — and surveys strategies for more sustainable plastic production and disposal.
It's the product not the polymer: Rethinking plastic pollution
This viewpoint argues that addressing plastic pollution requires focusing on the specific products and uses that generate the most harm rather than on polymer types alone, shifting the conversation from material properties to product design and waste management. This reframing has implications for policy, calling for targeted regulations on the most problematic plastic applications rather than blanket bans.
Role of Plastics in Modern Life: Benefits, Risks and Environmental Consequences
This review examines the dual role of plastics in modern society — their economic and practical benefits alongside growing environmental and health concerns — calling for a balanced approach to plastic use and waste management.
Framing pollution
This social science analysis explores how "pollution" — and microplastics specifically — is defined not just by science but by political, economic, and cultural forces. The paper examines different ways of framing microplastic pollution: as a waste management failure, a consumer behavior problem, or an inevitable product of industrial capitalism, each with different implications for who bears responsibility. It argues that understanding the social and political dimensions of microplastic pollution is essential for developing just and effective responses.
Review: Addressing climate change mitigation: Implications for the sustainable alternatives to plastics — R0/PR3
This is the peer review record for a paper on plastic waste accumulation and sustainable alternatives, representing one reviewer's evaluation of the manuscript. It does not contain independent research findings.
How plastic is our plastic culture? Reducing our consumption of single-use plastics
This paper examines the cultural and economic forces that have made single-use plastics so embedded in modern life, making them difficult to reduce despite known environmental harms. Understanding the social dimensions of plastic consumption — not just technical solutions — is essential for effectively reducing the microplastic pollution they ultimately generate.
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.
The Critical Importance of Adopting Whole-of-Life Strategies for Polymers and Plastics
This review argues that plastics must be managed across their entire life cycle—from design to disposal—to address the growing crisis of microplastic pollution. The authors call for replacing the current 'disposable' mindset with strategies that prioritize durability, recyclability, and eventually biodegradability.
A Critical Analysis of the Rising Global Demand of Plastics and its Adverse Impact on Environmental Sustainability
This critical review examined global trends in plastic demand and mismanaged plastic waste, identifying the top contributing countries and evaluating plastic replacement alternatives, arguing that reducing consumption and improving waste management infrastructure are more impactful than material substitution alone.
Bottlenecks of Global Plastic Strategy and the Way Forward of Microplastics Management
This review examines bottlenecks in global plastic waste management strategies, arguing that rising plastic use in everyday activities has outpaced regulatory and logistical capacity, and proposing pathways forward for more effective microplastics management at a global scale.