Moving from symptom management to upstream plastics prevention: The fallacy of plastic cleanup technology
Melanie Bergmann, Hans Peter H. Arp, Bethanie Carney Almroth, Win Cowger, Marcus Eriksen, Tridibesh Dey, Sedat Gündoğdu, Rebecca R. Helm, Anja Krieger, Kristian Syberg, Mine Banu Tekman, Richard C. Thompson, Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez, Anish Kumar Warrier, Trisia Farrelly
Abstract
Plastic removal technologies can temporarily mitigate plastic accumulation at local scales, but evidence-based criteria are needed in policies to ensure that they are feasible and that ecological benefits outweigh the costs. To reduce plastic pollution efficiently and economically, policy should prioritize regulating and reducing upstream production rather than downstream pollution cleanup.
Topics & Concepts
Plastic pollutionUpstream (networking)PollutionBiodiversityEnvironmental scienceEcosystemDownstream (manufacturing)Natural resource economicsProduction (economics)Environmental resource managementBusinessEnvironmental planningEnvironmental protectionEcologyEngineeringBiologyEconomicsMacroeconomicsTelecommunicationsMarketingMicroplastics and Plastic Pollution