Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

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.

2024 Golden Ratio of Marketing and Applied Psychology of Business
Article Tier 2

A New Philosophy for Sustainable Consumerism

This article discusses the challenge of reconciling sustainability goals with growth-based economies, using microplastic entry into the food chain as one example of the environmental costs of current consumption patterns. The author proposes a theoretical framework for enabling economic growth while maintaining long-term planetary health.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics
Article Tier 2

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.

2022 Marine Pollution Bulletin 19 citations
Article Tier 2

The future of foods

Not relevant to microplastics — this paper is a brief commentary on sustainable food systems and resource depletion, with no substantive content on microplastics.

2023 Sustainable Food Technology 13 citations
Article Tier 2

A Pro-Environmental Value Construct to Deal With Plastic Pollution

This article proposes a value-based framework for understanding plastic pollution, analyzing how the widespread usefulness of plastics drives their overuse and improper disposal. The author argues that sustainable solutions require rethinking the full lifecycle of plastics — from production through end-of-life — with a particular focus on reducing the microplastic contamination entering food chains.

2021 International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development 1 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2021 Journal of Environmental Pollution and Management 32 citations
Article Tier 2

The Philosophical Bottleneck of the Sustainable Development Ideal: The Problem of Future Generations

This article argues that sustainable development faces a core philosophical problem — moral responsibility toward future generations — and examines how Anthropocene-era threats including microplastics, nuclear waste, and climate change demand new ethical frameworks beyond traditional theories.

2025 İçtimaiyat
Article Tier 2

Plastic, microplastic, and the inconsistency of human thought

This opinion article explored the contradiction in human attitudes toward plastic, arguing that the same properties that make plastic ubiquitously useful also drive the behavior leading to its harmful accumulation as microplastics, and calling for greater consistency between risk awareness and individual action.

2023 Frontiers in Public Health 3 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 Water Emerging Contaminants & Nanoplastics 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental sustainability from the perspective of political economy

Not relevant to microplastics — this book chapter takes a political economy perspective on environmental sustainability, discussing climate change, biodiversity loss, and plastic pollution at a broad policy and philosophical level rather than conducting original microplastics research.

2023 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Sustainable Marketing and the Challenges of Green Marketing Communication: Survey of Consumer Attitudes and Buying Behaviour for Sustainable Products in the Czech Republic

Not relevant to microplastics — this survey examines Czech consumer attitudes toward sustainable products, exploring the gap between professed environmental values and actual purchasing behavior, and the challenges of green marketing communication.

2024 WSB Journal of Business and Finance 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Stability in the heart of chaos; (Un)sustainable refrains in the language of climate crisis

This conceptual paper examines how the word "sustainability" has become overused in environmental education and marketing, potentially creating a false sense of progress while harmful practices continue. While not directly about microplastics, the critique is relevant because many plastic products are marketed as "sustainable" without addressing the microplastic pollution they generate. The paper calls for more radical approaches to environmental education rather than relying on sustainability as a feel-good label.

2024 The Journal of Environmental Education 10 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2025 Journal of Moral Theology
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 Rozprawy Społeczne
Article Tier 2

An Examination of Microplastics: Environmental Impact, Sustainability, and Recyclability Innovation

This paper examined the environmental impact of microplastics, sustainability implications of current plastic use, and recycling options to address the plastic pollution crisis. It called for a transition toward circular economy approaches that reduce primary plastic production and increase recycled content.

2024 Journal of Student Research
Review Tier 2

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.

2023 Waste 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessing Provisions and Requirements for the Sustainable Production of Plastics: Towards Achieving SDG 12 from the Consumers’ Perspective

This paper reviews consumer-facing sustainability requirements for plastic production, examining how policies and consumer choices can drive progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goal of responsible consumption and production.

2022 Sustainability 6 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2021 Sustainability 18 citations
Article Tier 2

From Simplistic to Systemic Sustainability in the Textile and Fashion Industry

This paper is not about microplastic pollution. It examines sustainability challenges in the textile and fashion industry, arguing that current approaches are simplistic and insufficient. It proposes systemic solutions focused on circular value retention and sufficiency-based consumption to address waste, resource depletion, and pollution from fast fashion.

2023 Circular Economy and Sustainability 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Multispecies Sustainability

This essay argues that sustainability concepts need to expand beyond human welfare to explicitly include the needs of non-human species and future generations across all life forms. This philosophical perspective is relevant to how we frame the urgency of microplastic pollution, which affects ecosystems and wildlife independently of human interests.

2020 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Global plastic pollution, sustainable development, and plastic justice

This review examines how plastic pollution, including microplastics, undermines sustainable development goals and disproportionately affects lower-income nations that lack waste management infrastructure. The authors propose a "plastic justice" framework to address the human rights dimensions of plastic pollution, which poses health risks to communities through contaminated water, food, and air.

2024 World Development 87 citations
Article Tier 2

Waste and its Impact, Management, and Ethical Consumption

This overview examines waste management and ethical consumption as interconnected responses to environmental challenges. Plastic waste is a central concern because of its persistence and tendency to fragment into microplastics that contaminate ecosystems and enter the food chain.

2023 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
Article Tier 2

Environmental Philosophy: Rethinking Climate Change through the Jellyfish Metaphor

Not relevant to microplastics — this is a philosophical essay using the jellyfish as a metaphor to explore humanity's moral responsibility regarding climate change and environmental degradation, with no empirical microplastic content.

2023 Preprints.org 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Navigating towards a plastic-free future: A holistic review of microplastic accumulation and management for land and environmental sustainability

This holistic review examines microplastic accumulation in freshwater and marine ecosystems and consumption by aquatic life, evaluating bioremediation technologies, circular economy strategies, and plastic waste reduction approaches needed to move toward a plastic-free future.

2025 Environmental Research