Special Issue "Research on Estimating Plastic Leakage into the Environment"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Britta Denise Hardesty
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
Interests: plastic pollution; marine ecology; movement ecology; resource management; policy and governance
Dr. Qamar Schuyler
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As you are well-aware, plastic waste entering the environment is a growing social, economic and environmental hazard. While there is an estimated 4.8-2 million metric tons of mismanaged plastic waste entering the ocean each year, overall there has been little large-scale, empirical work to understand how accurate that estimate is. To fill this data gap, we invite you to submit your work providing evidence of how much, what types, and where litter is entering the environment within your country or region. The focus of this special issue is to highlight original research taking place at multiple countries around the world, with an eye to enabling comparisons at multiple scales whilst understanding key drivers that result in waste entering the environment. We invite you to include opportunities to reduce plastic and increase sustainability at local, regional and global scales in your submission. We also ask you to contextualize your research, relating your work to the growing body of existing literature on this important topic, whilst sharing information regarding relevant governance or policy related measures aimed at reducing waste leakage to the environment and/or resource recovery.

Dr. Britta Denise Hardesty
Dr. Qamar Schuyler
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • marine debris
  • litter
  • plastic pollution
  • policy
  • governance
  • sustainability
  • leakage
  • socio-economics
  • land use
  • stratified random sampling
  • citizen science

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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Article
Rapid-Survey Methodology to Assess Litter Volumes along Large River Systems—A Case Study of the Tamsui River in Taiwan
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 8765; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168765 - 05 Aug 2021
Viewed by 546
Abstract
Riverbanks are an important source of plastic pollution. However, the current assessment methods for riverbank litter are based on a point-based sampling which is time consuming and limited in scope. To quickly assess hotspot areas and litter compositions in larger areas, this study [...] Read more.
Riverbanks are an important source of plastic pollution. However, the current assessment methods for riverbank litter are based on a point-based sampling which is time consuming and limited in scope. To quickly assess hotspot areas and litter compositions in larger areas, this study developed a new citizen science bicycle survey for riverine debris. Covering 281.5 km of the Tamsui river system in Taiwan, the new methodology was tested at one of the most plastics polluted rivers in the world. The results revealed an average litter density of 15.3 m3/km at the river mouth and of 0.2 m3/km to 2.8 m3/km along the riverbanks further upstream. The coastline was mainly polluted by derelict fishing gear whereas single-use plastics and illegally dumped waste dominated the upstream areas. A correlation between litter and population density could not be identified, but it was noted that litter hotspots occur at cut banks and near mangrove vegetation. Overall, the new methodology proved suitable to collect large quantities of data for scientific purposes and to quickly detect litter accumulations prior to clean-up activities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Estimating Plastic Leakage into the Environment)
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Review

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Review
The Critical Importance of Adopting Whole-of-Life Strategies for Polymers and Plastics
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8218; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158218 - 23 Jul 2021
Viewed by 605
Abstract
Plastics have been revolutionary in numerous sectors, and many of the positive attributes of modern life can be attributed to their use. However, plastics are often treated only as disposable commodities, which has led to the ever-increasing accumulation of plastic and plastic by-products [...] Read more.
Plastics have been revolutionary in numerous sectors, and many of the positive attributes of modern life can be attributed to their use. However, plastics are often treated only as disposable commodities, which has led to the ever-increasing accumulation of plastic and plastic by-products in the environment as waste, and an unacceptable growth of microplastic and nanoplastic pollution. The catchphrase “plastics are everywhere”, perhaps once seen as extolling the virtues of plastics, is now seen by most as a potential or actual threat. Scientists are confronting this environmental crisis, both by developing recycling methods to deal with the legacy of plastic waste, and by highlighting the need to develop and implement effective whole-of-life strategies in the future use of plastic materials. The importance and topicality of this subject are evidenced by the dramatic increase in the use of terms such as “whole of life”, “life-cycle assessment”, “circular economy” and “sustainable polymers” in the scientific and broader literature. Effective solutions, however, are still to be forthcoming. In this review, we assess the potential for implementing whole-of-life strategies for plastics to achieve our vision of a circular economy. In this context, we consider the ways in which given plastics might be recycled into the same plastic for potential use in the same application, with minimal material loss, the lowest energy cost, and the least potential for polluting the environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Estimating Plastic Leakage into the Environment)
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