Economic Policy Instruments for Plastic Waste

Economic Policy Instruments for Plastic Waste
Author: Magnus Hennlock
Publisher: Nordic Council of Ministers
Total Pages: 120
Release: 2015-03-18
Genre:
ISBN: 9289338911

Achieving a high quality of waste plastic materials and recycling processes is a key challenge in closing the resource loops for plastics. This report reviews the status and trends for plastic waste flows and treatment in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Furthermore, it gives an overview of existing policy instruments and the main challenges for designing policy instruments for improved recycling of plastic waste in these Nordic countries. The report identifies potential market failures associated with closing the resource loops for plastics. It reviews the economics research literature on policy instrument design for achieving optimal recycling rates and makes policy recommendations from the Nordic perspective. Finally, it presents results from a survey on market conditions to managers in the recycling and plastic manufacturing industry in Sweden.

Global Plastics Outlook Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options

Global Plastics Outlook Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2022-02-22
Genre:
ISBN: 9264584064

While plastics are extremely useful materials for modern society, plastics production and waste generation continue to increase with worsening environmental impacts despite international, national and local policy responses, as well as industry commitments. The first of two reports, this Outlook intends to inform and support policy efforts to combat plastic leakage.

Reckoning with the U.S. Role in Global Ocean Plastic Waste

Reckoning with the U.S. Role in Global Ocean Plastic Waste
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher:
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2022-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780309458856

An estimated 8 million metric tons (MMT) of plastic waste enters the world's ocean each year - the equivalent of dumping a garbage truck of plastic waste into the ocean every minute. Plastic waste is now found in almost every marine habitat, from the ocean surface to deep sea sediments to the ocean's vast mid-water region, as well as the Great Lakes. This report responds to a request in the bipartisan Save Our Seas 2.0 Act for a scientific synthesis of the role of the United States both in contributing to and responding to global ocean plastic waste. The United States is a major producer of plastics and in 2016, generated more plastic waste by weight and per capita than any other nation. Although the U.S. solid waste management system is advanced, it is not sufficient to deter leakage into the environment. Reckoning with the U.S. Role in Global Ocean Plastic Waste calls for a national strategy by the end of 2022 to reduce the nation's contribution to global ocean plastic waste at every step - from production to its entry into the environment - including by substantially reducing U.S. solid waste generation. This report also recommends a nationally-coordinated and expanded monitoring system to track plastic pollution in order to understand the scales and sources of U.S. plastic waste, set reduction and management priorities, and measure progress.

Effective Waste Management and Circular Economy

Effective Waste Management and Circular Economy
Author: Sadhan Kumar Ghosh
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2022-09-07
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1000626385

Effective Waste Management and Circular Economy: Legislative Framework and Strategies is an invaluable resource for researchers, policymakers, implementers and PhD, graduate and Under Graduate level students in universities and colleges analysing the legal framework, strategies in waste management, circular economy adoption, use of mathematical and statistical modelling in setting waste management strategies, sanitation and Hygiene in waste management. While huge wastes are wasted by dumping, there is potential of resource circulation by enforcing legislative framework to effective resource utilisation and creating business opportunities. Circularity of resources in waste streams can contribute to a more secure, sustainable, and economically sound future through the followings: Effective legal framework, strategies and policy instruments, Adoption of circular economy and recycling technologies, Support of IoT and appropriate decision making and modelling, Adoption of alternatives to plastics and other hazardous materials, Economic feasibility as business case, commercialisation, generating employment. This book addresses most of the above issues in a lucid manner by experts in the field from different countries, which are helpful for the related stakeholders, edited by experts in the field. Sadhan Kumar Ghosh, Professor at Jadavpur University, internationally well-known expert working in varied interdisciplinary fields including waste management having research collaboration in 40 countries. Sasmita Samanta, Pro-Vice Chancellor, KIIT Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India having research experience in management & academic administration. Harish Hirani, Director at CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur, having wider fields of research in IIT Delhi with a number of research collaboration. Carlos RV Silva Filho, Director, Presidente, ABRELPE, Sao Paulo/SP - Brazil & Presidente, International Solid Waste Association, Netherlands has experience of working in number of international projects

Microplastic in the Environment: Pattern and Process

Microplastic in the Environment: Pattern and Process
Author: Michael S. Bank
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2021-10-09
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3030786277

This open access book examines global plastic pollution, an issue that has become a critical societal challenge with implications for environmental and public health. This volume provides a comprehensive, holistic analysis on the plastic cycle and its subsequent effects on biota, food security, and human exposure. Importantly, global environmental change and its associated, systems-level processes, including atmospheric deposition, ecosystem complexity, UV exposure, wind patterns, water stratification, ocean circulation, etc., are all important direct and indirect factors governing the fate, transport and biotic and abiotic processing of plastic particles across ecosystem types. Furthermore, the distribution of plastic in the ocean is not independent of terrestrial ecosystem dynamics, since much of the plastic in marine ecosystems originates from land and should therefore be evaluated in the context of the larger plastic cycle. Changes in species size, distribution, habitat, and food web complexity, due to global environmental change, will likely alter trophic transfer dynamics and the ecological effects of nano- and microplastics. The fate and transport dynamics of plastic particles are influenced by their size, form, shape, polymer type, additives, and overall ecosystem conditions. In addition to the risks that plastics pose to the total environment, the potential impacts on human health and exposure routes, including seafood consumption, and air and drinking water need to be assessed in a comprehensive and quantitative manner. Here I present a holistic and interdisciplinary book volume designed to advance the understanding of plastic cycling in the environment with an emphasis on sources, fate and transport, ecotoxicology, climate change effects, food security, microbiology, sustainability, human exposure and public policy.

Resource Recovery from Wastes

Resource Recovery from Wastes
Author: Lynne E Macaskie
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
Total Pages: 466
Release: 2019-10-15
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1788018656

The concept of a circular economy has been gaining increasing attention in recent years. Many of the sources of chemicals we have become reliant on are dwindling and the accumulation of waste products poses a serious environmental problem. By recovering resources from these waste materials, we can reduce our dependence on virgin feedstocks that may not be sustainable as well as reducing the quantity of material going to landfill sites. Incorporating different perspectives from a global authorship, this book aims to introduce systems thinking to the field of waste and resource management. The topics covered range from the use of biogeochemical processes in resource recovery to the application of engineered nanomaterials, with information relevant to both academia and industry. The broad range and cross-disciplinary nature of the topics in this book make it a valuable resource for those working in circular economy research, green chemistry and waste and resource management.

Policy Instruments for Environmental and Natural Resource Management

Policy Instruments for Environmental and Natural Resource Management
Author: Thomas Professor Sterner
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 530
Release: 2010-09-30
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1136522344

As Thomas Sterner points out, the economic 'toolkit' for dealing with environmental problems has become formidable. It includes taxes, charges, permits, deposit-refund systems, labeling, and other information disclosure mechanisms. Though not all these devices are widely used, empirical application has started within some sectors, and we are beginning to see the first systematic efforts at an advanced policy design that takes due account of market-based incentives. Sterner‘s book encourages more widespread and careful use of economic policy instruments. Intended primarily for application in developing and transitional countries, the book compares the accumulated experiences of the use of economic policy instruments in the U.S. and Europe, as well as in select rich and poor countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Ambitious in scope, the book discusses the design of instruments that can be employed in a wide range of contexts, including transportation, industrial pollution, water pricing, waste, fisheries, forests, and agriculture. Policy Instruments for Environmental and Natural Resource Management is deeply rooted in economics but also informed by perspectives drawn from political, legal, ecological, and psychological research. Sterner notes that, in addition to meeting requirements for efficiency, the selection and design of policy instruments must satisfy criteria involving equity and political acceptability. He is careful to distinguish between the well-designed plans of policymakers and the resulting behavior of society. A copublication of Resources for the Future, the World Bank, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

The Ocean Plastics Reduction Guide

The Ocean Plastics Reduction Guide
Author: European Investment Bank
Publisher: European Investment Bank
Total Pages: 77
Release: 2021-07-19
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9286150288

The objective of this guide is to raise awareness about the oceans' crucial importance to us and to the planet, and the growing threats posed by plastics discharged into and accumulating in the oceans. The guide outlines the key problems and challenges and how these can be addressed. The guide is promoting circular solutions to the ocean plastic pollution, and intends to inspire impactful action and change.

OECD Environmental Performance Reviews Waste Management and the Circular Economy in Selected OECD Countries Evidence from Environmental Performance Reviews

OECD Environmental Performance Reviews Waste Management and the Circular Economy in Selected OECD Countries Evidence from Environmental Performance Reviews
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2019-09-23
Genre:
ISBN: 926430939X

This report provides a cross-country review of waste, materials management and circular economy policies in selected OECD countries, drawing on OECD’s Environmental Performance Reviews during the period 2010-17. It presents the main achievements in the countries reviewed, along with common ...

Policies to Reduce Microplastics Pollution in Water Focus on Textiles and Tyres

Policies to Reduce Microplastics Pollution in Water Focus on Textiles and Tyres
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 139
Release: 2021-10-20
Genre:
ISBN: 9264559396

Microplastics are ubiquitous in the natural environment. This report synthesises the current state of knowledge on the sources, fate and risks of microplastics pollution. It then focuses on two sources of microplastics pollution, textile products and vehicle tyres, due to their substantial contribution to global microplastics emissions and currently largely absent policy frameworks to mitigate them.