The Governance of Plastics

Dear Colleagues,

Despite the popular call towards a 'no-plastics' future, a world without plastics is unimaginable. The challenge is to find a way to prevent plastic waste from escaping into the environment, while enhancing a circular economy for plastics, that is, a closed-loop system where end-of-service-life plastic objects are not discarded but rather become a new resource. The increased use of plastics over the past 50–60 years is now presenting the world with what can only be described as a 'Wicked Problem', a problem combining technical and social aspects, for which traditional solutions cannot work. Simple regulatory solutions such as bans (as it can be seen in around 20 African countries where plastics bags have been banned) can be effective but may also cause disadvantages such as the loss of useful material. The danger from such a reactive regulatory approach is to displace the problems caused by our consumption and production patterns, while thinking that the problem of plastic waste in the environment has been solved. Bans on the importation of certain plastic waste by DAC-listed countries may control the problem in the interim but not solve it for the future. Implementing a circular economy for plastics requires sophisticated and imaginative thinking about the governance of plastics. This Special Issue will provide a vehicle to initiate and enhance such thinking.

This Special Issue aims to further explore governance issues in relation to the development of a circular plastics economy. There is currently very limited analysis of plastics production and disposal from a regulatory and governance perspective. There is also little scholarly consideration from a socio- or eco-legal perspective of the development of a circular economy for plastics. Much is written within other disciplines on both these topics, but there is a gap in the development of a legal analytical discourse. This Special Issue therefore seeks original research articles, case studies or systematic reviews focusing on, but not limited to, the following:

• Legal mechanisms governing plastics and plastic products, such as environmental taxation, extended producer responsibility, ecodesign, product impact assessment, etc.
• Regulatory opportunities and challenges for fostering circular plastics economies (in which plastic waste is prevented, and plastic is reused, recycled or recovered with the aim of sustainable development).
• Contractual and intellectual property implications of designing products for circular plastics economies.
• Consequences of COVID-19 on the regulation of plastics. COVID-19 has resulted in the increase of single-use plastics.
• Justice and equity issues related to the governance of plastics.
• Multidisciplinary approaches to the development of a circular plastics economy.
• Sustainability approaches in relation to plastics and corporate governance.
• Business models and corporate governance for a circular plastics economy.
• REACH, other legislation on chemicals and their impact on the governance of plastics.
• International approaches, especially in relation to the impact of plastics on global commons such as oceans.
• Property issues and liability for harm from waste plastics.
• Employment law issues relating to waste pickers.

Prof. Dr. Rosalind Malcolm
Dr. Katrien Steenmans
Guest Editors

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