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Papers
61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to ‘Windows of opportunity’: exploring the relationship between social media and plastic policies during the COVID-19 Pandemic
ClearCampaigning Environmental Conservation During the Pandemic: A Social Media Reception Analysis
This study analyzed how environmental conservation campaigns shifted to social media during COVID-19 lockdowns to maintain public engagement. Social media campaigns about plastic pollution have become important tools for raising awareness of microplastic contamination and motivating policy change.
A creeping crisis when an urgent crisis arises: The reprioritization of plastic pollution issues during COVID‐19
This study examined how the COVID-19 pandemic led governments and industry to deprioritize single-use plastic reduction policies in favor of hygiene and health concerns. Policy analysis showed that the pandemic was used as justification to reverse plastic reduction commitments and increase single-use plastic consumption.
Do Social Media Posts Influence Consumption Behavior towards Plastic Pollution?
Researchers surveyed 213 individuals to assess how social media posts influence consumer behavior toward plastic pollution, finding that information campaigns on social media can shift attitudes and reduce plastic consumption intentions.
Divergent shifts in public ecological attention following the COVID-19 pandemic
Researchers analyzed over a decade of social media data from South Korea to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped public attention to environmental issues including microplastics. The study found that the pandemic acted as a catalyst that restructured how people connect environmental topics, with public discourse around microplastics notably shifting toward more positive sentiment while climate crisis discussions became more negative.
‘COVID waste’ and social media as method: an archaeology of personal protective equipment and its contribution to policy
This study argues that discarded personal protective equipment from the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes a novel archaeological record of contemporary environmental pollution, and proposes that archaeologists using social media analysis can contribute meaningful insights to sustainable waste management policy.
Fasting Plastic—The Role of Media Reports in a ‘Window of Opportunity’ to Reduce Plastic Consumption
This study examined how media coverage of prominent figures reducing plastic consumption can influence public behavior through role model effects, finding that targeted media moments can create windows of opportunity for behavior change. Media campaigns and public role models may be effective tools for reducing plastic consumption at scale.
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on single-use of plastics in some American Firms: Policy Insights
Researchers examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on corporate waste management programs across 42 American firms in Detroit, Atlanta, and Houston, finding significant changes in single-use plastic consumption patterns. The study provided policy insights on how pandemic conditions shifted corporate waste reduction, reuse, recycling, and recovery practices.
Generative AI and Discovery of Preferences for Single-Use Plastics Regulations
This paper is not about microplastics — it investigates whether generative AI tools can reliably capture consumer preferences for single-use plastics regulations by analyzing large-scale social media data.
Public Attention Formation in the "Diet Kantong Plastik" Social Movement
This qualitative study examines how Indonesia's Plastic Bag Diet Movement used social media to build public attention for reducing plastic use, finding that consistent, informative messaging and strategic timing helped grow the campaign's reach. The research suggests that digital advocacy can effectively raise environmental awareness but must also close the gap between awareness and individual action.
Corporate Social Responsibility Practices Amid Political and Economic Transformation in Europe
Not relevant to microplastics — this paper analyses corporate social responsibility practices and greenwashing among European companies in the context of post-pandemic political and economic change.
Plastic Waste and Sustainability: Reflections and Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Socio-Cultural and Environmental Context
This systematic literature review examined the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on plastic waste generation and management, finding through analysis of 22 studies that the pandemic increased PPE and microplastic pollution in coastal environments and shifted consumption patterns toward increased packaging waste from e-commerce, raising concerns about long-term socio-environmental consequences.
Plastic pollution induced by the COVID-19: Environmental challenges and outlook
Researchers used bibliometric analysis to map research on plastic pollution generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that wealthier nations led early inquiry while developing countries followed, and revealing that pandemic-related plastics — from masks to medical waste — are creating cascading contamination from land to ocean to atmosphere.
Environmental Choices Vs. COVID-19 Pandemic Fear – Plastic Governance Re-assessment
A plastic governance study conducted before COVID-19 found strong public support for phasing out single-use plastics, but the pandemic shifted perceptions, with health safety concerns making consumers demand more single-use plastic products. The authors call for re-evaluation of plastic governance strategies to accommodate the changed value hierarchies that emerged during the health crisis.
Single-Use Plastics and COVID-19: Scientific Evidence and Environmental Regulations
This commentary examines how the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically increased single-use plastic consumption and waste, reviewing the scientific evidence for the environmental impacts and discussing regulatory frameworks being developed in response.
Plastic Politics of Delay: How Political Corporate Social Responsibility Discourses Produce and Reinforce Inequality in Plastic Waste Governance
This study examines how Coca-Cola's World Without Waste initiative functions as a form of political corporate social responsibility that influences global plastics waste governance. The researcher found that the initiative employs delay tactics similar to those used by corporations in the climate debate, framing solutions in ways that hinder comprehensive policy action. The analysis suggests that such corporate involvement can exacerbate the plastics pollution crisis by promoting inequitable waste management approaches.
Networks of climate obstruction: Discourses of denial and delay in US fossil energy, plastic, and agrichemical industries
Researchers analyzed social media activity from major US fossil fuel, plastics, and agrichemical corporations to map how these industries coordinate messaging that delays climate and environmental action. The study found shared narratives across all three sectors that promote continued fossil fuel extraction, with implications for how policymakers understand and counter organized opposition to environmental regulation.
Twitter data analysis to assess the interest of citizens on the impact of marine plastic pollution
Analysis of approximately 140,000 tweets about marine plastic pollution found that public engagement peaked in response to high-profile events like media reports and plastic ban announcements, with most activity from non-expert users sharing alarming content, while scientific accounts generated less engagement, suggesting that science communication strategies need rethinking.
The COVID-19 pandemic reshapes the plastic pollution research – A comparative analysis of plastic pollution research before and during the pandemic
This comparative bibliometric analysis found that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reshaped plastic pollution research, driving increased focus on single-use plastics from personal protective equipment and medical waste while temporarily shifting attention away from traditional environmental microplastic topics.
Communication Beyond COVID-19 of Portuguese Health Entities Through Social Media
This paper is not relevant to microplastics; it analyzes how Portuguese public health institutions used social media to communicate non-COVID-19 health content during the pandemic.
Social Media Based Decision Support Model To Solve Indonesian Waste Management Problem: An Improved Version
This study used Twitter data and machine learning sentiment analysis to build a decision support model for waste management policy in Indonesia. Social media data can provide real-time insights into public concerns about plastic waste, complementing traditional environmental monitoring data.
The long-term impact of coronavirus disease 2019 on environmental health: a review study of the bi-directional effect
Researchers reviewed how the COVID-19 pandemic created a two-way relationship with environmental health, finding that lockdowns temporarily improved air and water quality while simultaneously driving a surge in single-use plastic waste and biohazard materials. The review calls for long-term sustainability policies that balance economic recovery with environmental protection, including reducing plastic pollution.
Efektivitas Hukum Lingkungan Dalam Mengurangi Sampah Plastik Di Lautan Indonesia Pada Era Globalisasi
Researchers examined the effectiveness of environmental law in reducing plastic waste in Indonesian seas during the era of globalization, assessing whether legal frameworks and the spread of awareness through social media can meaningfully curb plastic pollution in marine ecosystems.
Micro-consumerist bollocks in the fight against plastic pollution: when good intentions - and regulatory initiatives - go awry
This perspective argues that most regulatory initiatives targeting plastic pollution — such as banning single-use straws or bags — have minimal real-world impact because they do not address overall plastic production or waste management, with the COVID-19 pandemic further reversing progress.
The COVID-19 pandemic necessitates a shift to a plastic circular economy
Researchers argue that the COVID-19 pandemic's surge in single-use plastic demand exposes deep flaws in linear plastic waste management, calling for coordinated action by governments, industry, and researchers to shift toward circular economy principles including intelligent design and sustainable upcycling of plastics.