Roadmap for an Equitable Approach to Marine Plastic Pollution

Ocean Nexus Equity and Marine Plastic Report 2023

Roadmap for an Equitable Approach to Marine Plastic Pollution

Our roadmap aims to advance multi-sector engagement to foster immediate and sustained action for marine plastic pollution by building concrete steps of diverse and equitable solutions.

Roadmap for an Equitable Approach to Marine Plastic Pollution August 2023

Contributors Ivy Serwaa Gyimah Akuoko, University of Cape Coast Juan J. Alava, University of British Columbia Britta Baechler, Ocean Conservancy Eliya Baron Lopez Richard Caddell, University of Cardiff Juliano Calil, Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Center for the Blue Economy Asha Challenger, Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust Trisia Farrelly, Massey University Rebeca de Buen Kalman, University of Washington Jill Falman, University of Washington Elaine Faustman, University of Washington Ibrahim Issifu, University of British Columbia Indira James-Henry, Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust Andrew Kenefick, University of Washington Karly McMullen, University of British Columbia Elizabeth Mendenhall, University of Rhode Island Steffanie Munguía, Florida International University Yoshitaka Ota, University of Washington Ben Packard, University of Washington, Proctor & Gamble Patricia Parkinson, Environmental Law Oceania Consultancy Liz Schotman, Surfrider Foundation Heather Trim, Zero Waste Washington Jessica Vandenberg, University of Rhode Island Cover Illustration Mari Shibuya

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 1

Table of Contents Roadmap for an Equitable Approach to Marine Plastic Pollution Rationale Capacity Strengthening International Treaty Principles Definitions Corporate Accountability

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Supplementary Materials 1: Capacity Strengthening

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Introduction Why Focus on Equity?

Capacity Strengthening Strategy Component Goals for This Aim Roles and Responsibilities of Different Actors Potential Obstacles to Implementing This Aim Persuasive Strategies to Inspire Action Monitor and Track Implementation Projected Outcomes

Supplementary Materials 2: International Treaty Principles Description of This Aim Rationale for This Aim to Be Part of the Marine Plastic Pollution Roadmap Guiding Principles Other Principles Under Consideration Include: Component Goals for This Aim Actions Needed By Which Actors or Kinds of Actors Potential Obstacles to Implementing This Aim Ways to Monitor and Track Implementation References

Supplementary Materials 3: Definitions Terms and Definitions

Supplementary Materials 4: Corporate Responsibility Roadmap Goal Assumptions Roadmap Elements

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Roadmap for an Equitable Approach to Marine Plastic Pollution Rationale Equity underpins the design and implementation of sound interventions for marine plastic pollution that ensure just access to a healthy environment and clean waters for underrepresented and marginalized people (cf. the Equity and Marine Plastic Report). Yet, it is too often absent in designing and implementing environmental management actions and policies to prevent, mitigate and eliminate plastic pollution. This roadmap aims to advance multi-sector engagement to foster immediate and sustained action for marine plastic pollution by building concrete steps of diverse and equitable solutions.

Capacity Strengthening Capacity strengthening refers to reinforcing, amplifying, and elevating the existing resources, representation, and agency of communities. It leads to transformative outcomes that ensure that the interests of marginalized and politically oppressed groups are fully reflected in decision-making processes, from policy design to management and organizations. ● Prioritize resource provision for communities exposed to MPP to voice their concerns throughout all stages of decision-making, including in the development of international agreements. ● Ensure equitable participation for the communities in the development of international agreements, and protect their interests in the implementation of those agreements. ● Coordinate financial and technical support for small states and developing country coalitions to access the latest independent peer-reviewed publications on plastic pollution science, including the legal, economic, and social science dimensions of marine plastic pollution.

International Treaty Principles International Treaty Principles: Principles reflect the basic values, goals, and purposes of an international agreement, and shape its design, interpretation, and implementation. The current Treaty must explicitly integrate the international legal principles that support equity and environmental justice. These include the distributions of benefits and burdens, and the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people in decision-making. ● Prevention Principle: Prioritizes prevention of environmental degradation and negative impact on public health and well-being over waste management, emissions, reparations, or remediation of plastic pollution.

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● Precautionary Principle: Ensures that measures to prevent, avoid, or minimize the environmental, social, and human health impacts are not postponed when the effects of plastics and plastic pollution are unknown or poorly understood. ● Polluter/Industry Pays Principle: Ensures that those who produce plastics – including petrochemical or industrial sectors – are held accountable and responsible for all of the costs of plastic pollution, pollution prevention, remediation, and retrieval actions, and the compensation for loss and damage to communities. ● Intragenerational and Intergenerational Equity Principles: Articulate fairness and equity across different age groups in the use and conservation of the environment and its natural resources without compromising the ability of future generations to have the choice for their needs in regard to material sourcing. ● Principle of Cooperation, Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities: Acknowledges the different capabilities and differing responsibilities of individual countries in the global plastic crisis. It calls for extensive cooperation between countries to prevent and address plastic pollution, and to their participation in an effective and appropriate international response, in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and their social and economic conditions. ● Principle of Progressive Realization and Non-Regression: Establish the obligation on Member States and all countries to take regulatory and policy measures ensuring the simultaneous realization of the environmental, social, and human rights objectives of the Treaty, and prohibit regressive measures contrary to those objectives and to environmental justice.

Definitions Definitions must be comprehensive enough to capture environmental harms and human/public health impacts along the full lifespan of plastics, from prospecting for extraction to post-management remediation. They must address all forms of plastics including, not limited to, bio/degradable/compostable, micro and nano, and water soluble synthetic polymers, yet be clearly distinguished to reflect their differentiated equity concerns. Such definitions shall ensure that implementation is not subject to loopholes or moving targets. ● Consider how definitions can be manipulated or interpreted, especially with respect to its design, material types, and lifespan, in a way that diverts and weakens producer responsibilities and obligations. ● Consider how biases in definitions can undermine public participation and access to justice in line with the recognised international standards (e.g., Principle 10 of Rio Declaration).

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● Consider how definitions can be adapted to local contexts, resulting in policies that are robust, concrete, and accountable. ● Consider the impact of the definition outside of the territory/jurisdiction used.

Corporate Accountability Corporate Accountability: Any comprehensive solution to the MPP problem must include strategies to force or incentivize the plastics industry to significantly reduce the production of plastic products and packaging. Using combinations of regulatory mandates and economic incentives, progressive actions must force the petroleum, plastics, and packaging industries to acknowledge and be accountable for their actions in the excess generation of plastic wastes that pollute the environment and negatively affect community well-being. ● Reduce plastic production by capping new virgin polymers, caps on priority products (e.g., priority single-use plastic products, or SUPs), and moratoriums on plastics and petrochem plants, removing subsidies for fossil fuel, petrochem, and plastics industries. ● Ban plastic waste exports and prevent transboundary plastic pollution to developing nations and small island nations, where impacted communities experience lack of access to plastics pollution mitigation strategies and public health programs. ● Where plastics are necessary, corporate accountability will ensure the introduction of only toxic-free, safe, and a truly regenerative future circular economy for optimal equitable outcomes for all. ● Monitor compliance, preventive measures, and regulation enforcement for plastic waste reduction shall be supported by the global community, regional private-public partnerships in LDCs and the institutional support a treaty could offer (financial mechanisms, science-policy interface) to ensure equitable interventions and just transitions. ● A defined, legible, and tractable legal relationship between multinational corporations and the states which exercise jurisdiction and control over them, in order to support the creation of effective provisions for responsibility and liability.

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Supplementary Materials 1: Capacity Strengthening

Capacity Strengthening For Stronger Representations of Actors Most Affected By Marine Plastic Pollution August 2023

Contributors: Ivy Serwaa Gyimah Akuoko (University of Cape Coast), Britta Baechler (Ocean Conservancy), Jill Falman (University of Washington), Steffanie Munguía (Florida International University), Yoshitaka Ota (University of Washington), Liz Schotman (Surfrider Foundation)

Introduction Addressing marine plastic pollution requires a robust consideration of the needs of those who are most impacted by it – and adjusting strategies to match those needs. Real solutions are not one-size-fits-all. We need a diversity of backgrounds, opinions, and approaches to move towards solutions that are meaningful, equitable, and applicable on a global level. However, decisions are often made with insufficient input from local actors.

Thus, to ensure justice in resolving marine plastic pollution, we must increase the representation of actors most affected by these pollutants. Closing the gap between international decisions and local implementation will require bottom-up and top-down approaches to increase representation and participation at all stages.

People are impacted by marine plastic pollution across the plastics value chain, from production to disposal. To adequately address the injustices of marine plastic pollution, we must consider the risks to which actors are exposed at all of these stages.

We define risk as the interaction between the implicit hazard of marine plastics pollution and the rate of exposure to it. We also recognize that coastal communities are, in many respects, frontline communities for marine plastic pollution. Thus, these actors – including individuals, decision-making entities, businesses, and organizations – will likely experience some of the greatest physical as well as intangible risks from marine plastic pollution.

Capacity strengthening is necessary to mitigate these risks across the value chain.

Capacity strengthening refers to reinforcing, amplifying, and elevating actors’ existing capacity, representation, and agency – for example, through advocacy training and network development – as well as systemic transformation that ensures representation of all actors in decision-making spaces. This process should be initiated, and proceed, with or without the adoption of a multilateral treaty so that we may measure the impact of capacity-strengthening, and develop the needed networks to effectively and inclusively implement any treaty. Furthermore, increasing representation of actors in treatyROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 6

development processes is necessary to produce an equitable agreement. In effect, local capacity is essential for both equitable participation in the development of international agreements, as well as the implementation of those agreements.

Why Focus on Equity?

Environmental challenges are mostly associated with inequality and inequity in the distribution of impacts, resulting in cases of environmental injustices. Resource users, who are mostly from developed countries and communities, generate the problem, yet suffer less because they have the capacity and power to mitigate impacts. People from developing countries, low-income communities, and the marginalized often contribute less to the problem but are the most vulnerable. This is evident in the current climate change crisis experienced globally. Unfortunately, solutions to environmental challenges often focus on physical and economic impacts with little to no attention paid to social impacts. Meanwhile, social impacts often last longer and perpetuate legacies of injustice.

Environmental justice (EJ) is needed to find solutions to environmental challenges, and plastic treaty discussions provide an opportunity to set this example.

There are many potential solutions for marine plastic pollution, but not all will produce just and equitable outcomes. The existing power imbalance between actors making decisions and those who are most affected demands structural change to ensure that solutions do not perpetuate injustice. Those who are most affected might be at greater risk due to either the type of hazards they encounter or their level of exposure to it. For example, some marine plastic pollutants may have more harmful effects than others based on their chemical composition, or some individuals may be more exposed to this pollution due to their geographic location or occupation. At the confluence of high hazard and high exposure are the actors that are most at risk from marine plastic pollution. Who these actors are is not always immediately evident and a concerted effort to properly identify these individuals or entities is needed to increase representation.

Actors at all scales must directly engage with the process of developing solutions to identify a path forward. Lack of such representation in other marine contexts, such as the development of marine reserves, has resulted in ineffective implementation and undesirable outcomes. Removing barriers to taking action on marine plastics through capacity-strengthening also increases representation in advocacy for other community needs. Importantly, this representation must be enhanced across the system, from informal decision-making spaces to formal meetings at the local, national, and international level. Without this transformation, no proposal to address marine plastic pollution will truly be a solution.

The importance of integrating equality and equity throughout the negotiation and capacity strengthening process cannot be overstated. Inequities and the global plastic pollution crisis are intrinsically linked, and many of these problems only persist because existing governance/management systems are not inclusive. Decision-making often uses ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 7

a top-down approach, ultimately failing to address these issues of inequalities, thus resulting in failed solutions.

For the ongoing plastic treaty negotiation, we recommend that each step of the negotiation process begins with and prioritizes equity and justice. Systems should be put in place to ensure genuine engagement by all actors, beginning with the establishment of a realistic timeline that allows for relationship building and inclusive engagement throughout the process. An example of how this might look is the implementation of mandatory consultation and consent guidelines that establish criteria and best practices for ensuring genuine consultation that include: ● Restructuring of existing systems to make them inclusive ● Transparency in where decision-making power lies ● A plan for redistributing this power where imbalances occur ● Emphasis on the need for two-way feedback mechanisms, including established processes for soliciting, aggregating, and incorporating this feedback into decision-making ● Procedures for holding actors accountable when the above standards are not upheld ● Periodic review of the efficacy of these efforts to identify and address gaps in the process early and often

Capacity Strengthening Strategy In this section, we outline steps for strengthening capacity and ensuring equity in developing and implementing solutions for marine plastic pollution. These are grouped in three general phases: 1. Characterizing the community struggle and actors’ responsibilities, which focuses on identifying the individuals, agencies, institutions, and entities who either impact or are impacted by marine plastic pollution.

2. Outline, implement, and amplify the strategies that will meet the needs of the community in an equitable fashion and share lessons learned across iterations.

3. Transparency and accountability through evaluation of efforts undertaken, including reporting out to all actors and to the global community of advocates working to address marine plastic pollution.

We recognize that capacity varies widely across communities, so while time is of the essence, we do not provide a specific timeline. We also acknowledge that these are not all the strategies, but rather a guideline for sequencing critical actions needed to ensure equitable participation.

Component Goals for This Aim Phase 1: Characterizing the community struggle and actors’ responsibilities ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 8

● Identify and categorize actors (broadly defined, as above) along the plastic value chain according to hazard exposure level. ● Identify risks and develop a framework for assessing and prioritizing risks, beginning with an initial assessment of where power is held and existing inequity. ○ Risk areas of concern: livelihood, health (physical, mental), social, culture & dignity, environmental risk. ○ Assessing where power is held along the value chain through either identifying which actors have authority for decision-making, resources for implementation, or discursive legitimacy (i.e., trusted messengers) to influence the process (Purdy 2012), OR a capacity framing that focuses on identifying which actors have capacity for monitoring, restriction, and litigation. ○ Utilize participatory approaches to promote the participation of and learn from community members/local actors regarding their risk perception, (health, environmental, economic, cultural, etc.) risks, and options for monitoring, control, and evaluations using concepts from participatory epidemiology techniques (Alders et al. 2020). This approach includes participatory methodologies that facilitate a process to really learn from communities by embracing their knowledge, experience, and motivations to identify and assess the marine plastic pollution risks. ● Identify the source of funding and develop a sustainable funding mechanism. ● Select the most vulnerable actors. ● Identify obstacles to a successful engagement of vulnerable actors in developing interventions. ● Develop a framework for establishing networks (considering composition, governance, etc.). ● Develop initial outreach to actors impacted by or driving MPP, governments, and advocates to explain the effort and begin building a global network of actors engaging in capacity-strengthening efforts. ● Develop a network for actors to connect/problem solve (leadership skills/training, webinars about governance/political systems, sharing funding opportunities, etc.) to disrupt the narrative that MPP affects relatively few communities/that actors are on their own in responding to the crisis. ● Identify valuable technology, policy, and regulatory tools for tracking the problem and compile resources of strategies available, as well as opportunities for knowledge or technological transfer. ● Develop interventions and metrics to measure success that include approaches to manage or eliminate the identified obstacles and emulate best practices elsewhere, adapted to the local context in pilot areas. ● Test interventions in pilot cases.

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● Increase visibility of the environmental justice implications of MPP by developing a year-round communications campaign (based on capacity/resources) and establishing an annual global day around which to organize communications and meaningful policy and regulatory interventions to address environmental justice in MPP. Phase 2: Outline, implement, and amplify ● Outline pathway for addressing environmental injustices based on pilot interventions. ● Identify failures in pilot interventions, including political manipulations hindering progress, and develop mitigation measures. ● Identify which actors will take ownership of products listed in years 7 - 10. ● Establish new networks and test interventions across more communities in the network. ● Measure successes and share lessons learned/best practices among communities through network. ● Implement mitigation measures to determine success in pilot cases. ● Increase visibility of the environmental justice implications of MPP by implementing a year-round communications campaign (based on capacity/resources) and celebrate the annual global day on EJ in MPP. Phase 3: Transparency and accountability ● Assess progress towards goals using pre-established metrics. ● Conduct a collaborative review of the process and progress in the format of a global conference/workshop. ● Establish sister cities within network to strengthen community and collaboration and increase accountability. ● Network collaboratively adopts a process for revising and updating the roadmap as context and conditions change. ● Produce a global report of progress towards capacity-strengthening and increasing representation. ● Develop and launch a web-based resource hub with information about the effort, participants, learnings, etc. ● Continue to amplify visibility of the environmental justice implications of MPP through the year-round communications campaign (based on capacity/resources) and celebrating the annual global day on EJ in MPP.

Roles and Responsibilities of Different Actors Broadly, the proposed work is to be completed in two arenas: community-level task forces, which are representative bodies of vulnerable actors as well as external

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advocates and expert groups, with some engagement of government and industry representatives; and a global coordinating body, which is similarly diverse in composition. The network refers to actors across both of these groups. Actions are presented below in loosely chronological order, beginning with the first actions needed: ● Local communities, with the support of external advocates/expert groups, should designate a representative community-level task force to coordinate their efforts to identify who is impacted by MPP across the value chain and gather initial information about the nature/extent of their hazard exposure. ● Recruit members to a global coordinating body which includes community representatives to develop a unified framework for prioritizing risks and assessing actors’ capacity/power. ● Community level task forces use a vulnerability index to select most vulnerable actors and identify obstacles that might delay or prevent successful engagement. ● Global coordinating body reviews existing networks, compiles best practices for network development, and provides guidance for establishing community- and international-level networks to address EJ in MPP. ● Community-level task forces, with support from the global coordinating body, engage in an awareness creation and education campaign on MPP and the need to find equitable solutions. ● Community-level task forces, in collaboration with the global coordinating body, develop an inventory of technology, policy, and regulatory tools needed to help solve the problem. ● Community-level task forces are engaged in a network committed to monitoring and reporting interventions and meeting to develop new solutions. ● Community-level task forces in pilot cases develop interventions and metrics for their communities through workshops and informed by best practices elsewhere, and select an intervention to test. ● The broader network of community-level nodes AND global coordinating body develop mechanisms to increase the visibility of the EJ implications of MPP. ● Global coordinating body through consultation with pilot project leads develop a “roadmap” for addressing EJ issues at the community scale based on pilot interventions. ● Community-level task forces identify shortcomings from initial interventions and implement measures to correct them. ● Community-level task forces, communicating with global coordinating group, delegate responsibilities for reporting, participating in global conferences, etc., expected in the final triennium of the project. ● Community-level task forces across the network test interventions based on learnings from pilot cases.

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● Community-level task forces measure and communicate successes through workshops and submit learnings to global coordinating body to share across the network. ● Community-level task forces in pilot cases implement mitigation measures and track metrics of success. ● Network members gather and report data on progress based on pre-established metrics during a global workshop to review process and progress, including adopting a process for revising and updating the roadmap. ● Network members establish sister cities within network to support expansion of interventions to other areas, knowledge sharing, and community-building. ● Network produces a global report that compiles high-level insights learned from interventions and a web-based resource hub that collates more detailed examples from community-level task forces.

In addition to these specific work areas, the aim group recognizes that there are cross-cutting themes that must be taken into account in performing the above activities: ● The capacity-strengthening effort must be intersectional in nature, incorporating other policy work areas like advocating for the provisioning of basic social amenities in coastal communities such as sanitation and waste management, schools, hospitals, water, electricity, etc., or enabling civic engagement and political participation. ● Interventions must be evaluated, at a minimum, against a standard of equitable distribution of benefit and burden such that benefits are allocated to communities who are most vulnerable. ● Given the global nature of this effort, and the lack of resources in many communities, creativity in convenings is needed to provide ample opportunity for participation through digital and non-digital platforms at multiple scales. This may be supplemented by a travel and capacity-strengthening fund that might be produced by a global plastics tax. ● Any decisions made through this effort or multilateral environmental agreements must be socialized at all levels so local communities are informed about protections/rights conferred by those agreements to advocate for themselves. ● Recognizing that many people make a living from the current plastics value chain, a just transition for these dependent actors is needed so they may access alternative livelihoods. ● Capacity-strengthening within “middle-men” organizations, such as NGOs, is also needed to guide them to better allyship for vulnerable actors.

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Potential Obstacles to Implementing This Aim Introducing equitable engagement strategies to historically inequitable systems is challenging work, and actors should be prepared for this and develop strategies to mitigate it. This is not an exhaustive list of all of the possible obstacles, but rather major ones that the authors have encountered frequently in their work. Each community should assess their own landscape for any obstacles specific to their situation. ● Community buy-in is necessary to initiate the assessment and sustain the effort throughout this aim; it must be developed early and reinforced often by building and sustaining trust. ● Industry opposition and interference. ● Risk of the initial community-level task forces not being representative themselves, which can propagate biases in analyses of risk, vulnerability, capacity and power, or of actors who are not selected being offended and unwilling to support the goals/efforts of the task force ● Resources will be needed to fund or complete the evaluations. Although a funding mechanism is necessary, funds coming from donors/foundations/corporations are often funneled through “middle men” organizations before being delegated to local groups to address MPP, which can be problematic because it puts the power in the hands of those organizations as opposed to directly to local groups. ● Lack of data/information to compute vulnerability index may necessitate additional labor/funds to collect this initial information. ● Need for expertise in developing/managing effective international networks. ● Material support is needed to encourage equitable participation in the development process. ● Information on best practices in addressing MPP may be unavailable or inaccessible in certain communities. ● Delayed buy-in by community members can slow the intervention process substantially. ● Certain technologies and policy/regulatory tools may not be accessible to all communities, either due to funding constraints or differences in governance. ● Politicians may abuse networks for political gain or manipulate them to achieve their own outcomes, rather than prioritizing the needs of the communities. ● Designating a global day for EJ in MPP requires global support and an endorsing organization, so the political will for this must be intentionally developed. ● As MPP challenges and potential interventions are extremely context dependent, poorly selected pilot cases may lead to a very limited suite of examples of strategies, thereby not producing generalizable guidance for the network. ● If pilots are not completed, interventions will be tested without prior knowledge of the potential outcomes.

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● If the network does not see the value of monitoring, or of the products listed in years 7 - 10 (reports, global workshop, etc.), they are not likely to follow through and learnings from this effort may be lost. ● Communities may be frustrated by initial failures and not be interested in iterating to find effective solutions, which will be especially aggravated if there is a lack of resources or political will to support the work. ● Improper record-keeping or lack of data collection may hinder reporting efforts ● Inadequate capacity (funding and people power) to organize workshop/ conference in a way that gets all actors around the table may undermine the efforts to generate an inclusive and impactful dialogue. ● Previous negative experiences with other networks may make communities unwilling to join/participate.

Persuasive Strategies to Inspire Action The global community has acknowledged that marine plastic pollution poses a critical threat to all life on this planet. Healthy oceans are foundational to our survival. Despite this awareness, action has been slow and has left much to be desired. The below strategies can catalyze action where motivation has historically been low: Grassroots: ● Ensure community buy-in during years 1-3 by clearly demonstrating the value of participation/representation. ● Education and creating awareness of coastal communities on the impacts of MPP and the need to solve the problem. ● Using the public as an advocacy tool for change by leveraging powerful storytelling – social media strategies, political engagement. ● Provision of non-monetary incentives. ● Increasing visibility of environmental justice implications of plastics pollution. ● Non-traditional outreach such as community art (murals, performance, music). ● Encouraging positive social deviance to shift cultural norms.

Top-down: ● Incentivize corporate strategy to authentically engage communities and reduce barriers. ● Projecting the economic implications of MPP to political actors. ● Regulatory mechanisms to incentivize organizations or agencies towards better waste management and waste reduction.

Monitor and Track Implementation Monitoring is a pivotal step in ensuring transparency and accountability. At a minimum, this should include: ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 14

● Periodic reports by network (including information on representativeness of network membership). ● Regular community surveys to track ongoing participation and perceptions. ● Assessments at fixed intervals (as outlined in the goals).

Finally, to track progress on a global scale and inform international negotiations, the global coordinating body should develop a report that compiles high-level lessons learned over the prior decade and guidance for continuation of interventions as reported by community-level task forces.

Projected Outcomes If the objectives outlined above are not fully implemented by year 10, communities historically burdened by marine plastic pollution will continue to be disproportionately impacted, further limiting their capacity to organize and change the inequitable status quo. Global conversations about marine plastics pollution will continue to de-emphasize social and environmental justice framing of these issues, which will perpetuate existing inequities and undermine interventions. The decision-making process will be captured by powerful special interests and any attempts at developing strategies to address the plastics crisis will be ineffective because they fail to consider environmental justice as a primary goal.

If this aim is fully implemented by year 10, communities who have historically borne the brunt of the marine plastics pollution crisis will have a powerful voice in shaping conversations at local, national, and international levels about how to address plastic pollution. Coastal communities around the world will have a better understanding of the actors and actions necessary to address plastic pollution, and be well on their way to implementing interventions to reduce the burden of marine plastics. There will be greater concern and awareness about the myriad injustices produced by marine plastic pollution across the value chain. This will build the political will necessary to ensure that environmental justice concerns are incorporated into global decision-making. More specifically, the decision-making processes and tables will reflect a broader diversity of actors and experiences who are authentically engaged.

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Supplementary Materials 2: International Treaty Principles

Crafting Guiding Principles For a Strong International Treaty That is Equitable and Enforceable August 2023

Contributors: Juan J. Alava (University of British Columbia), Asha Challenger (Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust), Trisia Farrelly (Massey University), Ibrahim Issifu (University of British Columbia), Elizabeth Mendenhall (University of Rhode Island), Patricia Parkinson (Environmental Law Oceania Consultancy)

Description of This Aim Design and promote guiding principles for a new and strong international plastics treaty that enhance the enforceability of specific obligations and equity of outcomes. Principles should support rule-making that creates specific national obligations, promotes uniformity of regulatory approaches, and includes functional accountability mechanisms. The implementation of this treaty should foster and enable equitable responses and participation to reduce the overall amount and emissions of plastics produced and consumed, minimize plastics in all environments, mitigate the effects of plastic pollution including marine macroplastics and microplastic pollution, to remediate leakage/emissions in the environment, and to achieve a global circular economy that does not rely on plastics in order to protect human and environmental health. Where plastics are necessary, the treaty should ensure only toxic-free, safe, and fully and perpetually recyclable or reusable plastics are introduced into the global economy.

Finally, it shall be noted that the set of principles are designed to reflect the full life “span” (not cycle) of plastics from prospecting for extraction to post-management remediation and legacy plastics and everything in between.

Rationale for This Aim to Be Part of the Marine Plastic Pollution Roadmap Plastics, including large plastics (macroplastics), microplastics, nanoplastics, and associated chemical contaminants and biological pollution, inflict widespread socio-ecological, economical, and biological impacts on all aspects of life in the global ocean and on planet Earth, which call for urgent attention, equitable management interventions, and proactive policy.

Plastic is a global pollutant of concern and problem with international dimensions, so strategies at the international level are important for equitable outcomes and focused, effective solutions.

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A related treaty negotiation process just finished the second session of three, representing a critical opportunity to take needed action. There is a need for the proactive inclusion of equity and participation of exposed people, including marginalized peoples and communities including women, youth, people with disabilities, Indigenous peoples, traditional and ancestral communities in any intervention, management actions, and solution-oriented research to address, mitigate, and prevent plastic pollution and solid waste in the marine environment.

There is need for strengthening equity, equality, and well-being requirements by ensuring these social-ecological dimensions are fully incorporated in the design of interventions and mitigation strategies, solution-oriented research teams, and implementation processes to reduce and eliminate plastic pollution, which should be a foundational principle in the vision and expected outcomes of the treaty.

There is need for a risk assessment categorization framework considering the persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic nature (PBT criteria similar to that of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants-POPs) and long-range atmospheric transport of the most harmful plastics (e.g., single-use plastics) and microplastics, following a prevention, bottom-up policy pathway, and the precautionary principle. This should state the basis to promote a feasible global ban for the most dangerous polymers types of single-use plastics, other commonly used macroplastics and primary microplastics based on the persistence, bioaccumulation, potential toxicity and disposability.

There is a need for capping fossil fuel-based plastics production to reduce and eliminate plastic emissions and pollution, while ensuring that plastics alternatives and substitutes (e.g., bio-based plastics) do not disrupt the growth and functioning of existing plastic pollution prevention systems.

Acknowledging existing agreements/conventions with relevance to plastic pollution (such as Plastic Amendments for the Basel Convention, which entered into force in January 2021) and flag equity elements in those agreements as well as cognisance of the need for just transitions.

Guiding Principles These principles are underpinned by a human rights approach – including the fundamental right to a clean and healthy environment – and aimed at championing the environmental rule of law that is essential to equity for the attainment of environmental justice, good governance, the sustainable development goals, and the realization of environmental and socio-economic rights.

The following principles are drawn from existing multilateral international agreements, customary international law, and general principles and concepts of international law. They each relate to, and support the achievement of equitable outcomes for a plastics treaty.

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● Precautionary principle: Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent, avoid or minimize environmental degradation.

Under this premise, proactively managing and preventing risks where there is uncertainty about environmental impact, the prevention principle and approach should be implemented to avoid environmental damage before it happens. ● Prevention principle: Requires the prioritization of prevention of environmental harm over repair or remediation following the preventive pathway policy. The prevention principle dictates the prevention of pollution and impacts of plastics at all stages of their life span as opposed to mitigating the impacts of plastic waste.

This principle is associated with an economic approach based on prevention strategies and involves regulatory interventions into markets that foster equity by internalizing costs to industry and minimizing the negative impact of transitions on individuals, and that foster prevention of plastic pollution impacts including through promoting a circular economy approach. In addition, the preventive principle is also associated with the international customary law duty to prevent transboundary harm. ● Polluter/Industry pays principle shifts the responsibility and costs of preventing / mitigating / remediating pollution generated by activities from the people impacted by pollution or society in general to the person(s) / industry / company / entity conducting or responsible for the activity. In relation to plastic pollution, the polluter pays principle entails that parties and petrochemical or industrial sectors are transparent and accountable for producing pollution for instance through globally harmonized reporting standards and disclosure obligations, for paying for any damage (according to environmental law and regulations) and held liable for environmental, socio-economic, and marginal costs. The polluter pays principle is the foundation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). In addition to specific liability for point source pollution, development of a general compensation fund could serve the general purposes of remediation. ● Intergenerational equity principle recognises the legitimate expectation of future generations to access to planetary resources and a healthy environment, and creates an obligation for the current generation to preserve the environment and sustainably manage natural resources for the benefit of future generations.

Intergenerational equity aligns with the principle of sustainable development, defined in international law as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” ​In relation to plastics, this principle supports the shift from the current unsustainable linear economy model (i.e., extract, produce, consume, and discard), to a feasible circular economy model that includes equitable interventions (both distributive and procedural equity process), based on a full life

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 18

span of plastics approach designing out waste and pollution preventing harm to the environment and exposed communities. ● Intragenerational equity principle relates to equity between people of the same generation and aims to assure justice among human beings that are alive today, that may differ in identity, culture, social opportunities, or countries at different levels of development. While acknowledging the transgenerational impacts of plastics (e.g., genetic disruptions from EDCs associated with plastics and the persistence and toxicity of plastic pollution and its impacts), this principle fosters equitable interventions that achieve the universal human right to access a clean and healthy environment of current and future generations, and allow for the inclusion in decision-making processes, and the empowerment of minorities and exposed communities.

Other Principles Under Consideration Include: ● Principle of Cooperation, Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities. The principle of cooperation instituted under the UN Charter imposes on States a duty of States to cooperate “in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth's ecosystem” (Rio Declaration) to address global environmental challenges including the plastics crisis. In accordance with equity principles, international law also acknowledges differentiated responsibilities, the developed countries acknowledging “the responsibility that they bear in the international pursuit of sustainable development in view of the pressures their societies place on the global environment and of the technologies and financial resources they command.” In relation to addressing the plastic crisis, developed countries are to take responsibility for preventing and remediating the impacts of plastics, plastic products, and plastic waste that impact disproportionately to their contribution, the Large Ocean Small Island Developing States, and other vulnerable population groups, globally. ● Principle of Progressive Realization and Non-Regression. Originating from International Human Rights Law, pursuant to this principle of progressive realization and non-regression, States and sub-national entities shall not allow or pursue actions that have the net effect of diminishing the legal protection of the environment or of access to environmental justice. Accordingly, the Treaty should require the international community and States to take steps to optimize their available resources to progressively achieve the full realization of economic, social and cultural rights, including by applying the principle of integration and integrating environmental protection into all relevant policy areas towards sustainable development and the right to a healthy environment for present and future generations by eliminating/minimizing leakage and emissions of plastics, ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 19

chemical additives in plastics, greenhouse gasses (GHGs), and equal access and right to information via public consultation, transparency, and participation.

Component Goals for This Aim ● Years 1-3: Treaty open for signature/ratification and states are ready and committed to sign and ratify a treaty that incorporates the guiding principles described above. Principles should be mentioned in a general way (in a Preamble or overarching article), as well as reflected in the specific rules and procedures contained in the treaty. ● Years 4-6: Treaty enters into force, new institutions are formed, reporting processes begin, and treaty members meet in first Conference of Parties. ● Years 7-10: Treaty provisions are incorporated into domestic law. Reporting measures generate accountability actions, including guidance and/or decisions issued from treaty bodies.

Actions Needed By Which Actors or Kinds of Actors (including when – i.e., contingencies between the actions needed) ● UN Member state representatives - Negotiate a treaty that upholds the principles for a strong, equitable, and enforceable treaty and ratify treaty. ● Relevant government department - Formulate National Action Plans, ensure vertical and horizontal integration of principles across sectors and relevant policy frameworks, such as plans, strategies, policies and legislation, and make accountable policy implementation that includes necessary institutional arrangements. ● National enforcement authorities and agencies (government departments and agencies, Police, public prosecutors, and the judiciary) - Implement relevant policy and legal instruments, support and monitor compliance, and ensure consistent enforcement. ● NGOs/NFPs and IGOs - Prior to entry into force and prior to singing or ratification: advocacy, capacity building, and awareness campaigns to support and accelerate ratification and entry into force. Post entry into force: advocacy and lobbying for national policy and legal framework for implementation. ● Industry - Generation of proposals for plastics alternatives and full life-span approaches, compliance for just transition away from harmful plastics to produce toxic-free, products that are designed to be safely reused, recycled, repaired, remanufactured, and repurposed. ● Scientific community - The science community needs to be a new part of the solution in terms of design and technology development, identifying safe, toxic-free, green chemistry alternatives, improving science communication for the

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 20

broadest audience, and supporting the development of baselines, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting for national action plans. ● General public - As consumers adopt responsible practices aligned with the zero waste hierarchy and reward companies that take action to shift to plastic neutral and feasible circular economy models. As voters reward politicians who maintain focus on implementation of new international agreements and act on consumer justice by holding the government and industry accountable.

Potential Obstacles to Implementing This Aim ● Insufficient representation of needs and priorities of countries most impacted by plastic pollution, especially Large Ocean Small Island Developing States (LOSIDS) and small oceanic communities where the circular economy of plastics may not be feasible or work at all. ● Industry resistance, lobbying, and corruption. ● International security politics (especially US/China/Russia tensions). ● Status quo and perpetuation of end-of-useful-life or end-of-the-pipe (symptoms focused) approaches by companies and industries (instead consider “post-consumption plastics,” “post-management plastic pollutants,” and “legacy plastics/plastic pollutants”). ● Insufficient legally binding provisions / too many voluntary provisions in the treaty. ● Treaty process may not conclude sufficiently ambitious objectives and obligations. ● Lack of actionable liability frameworks, compulsory dispute settlement, and broadly credible international decision-making bodies. ● Transnational capital flow, shell companies, free rider dynamics, and “race to the bottom” dynamics. ● Lack of adequate financing - The Treaty does not set up a financial mechanism or developed countries do not commit funds to support developing countries implementing the treaty.

Ways to Monitor and Track Implementation ● National Action Plans - Legally binding requirement for a national implementation strategy and implementation plan, including quantifiable and timebound targets. ● Monitoring and reporting requirements for member States (with technical and financial assistance to collect data). ● Conference of the Parties - Technical Committees, decisions to address implementation issues identified. ● Establish strong quantifiable objectives that States will be held accountable for. ● Framework, tools, or guidance for assessment of equity outcomes. ● Periodic global assessment of implementation status - Progress towards targets.

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 21

References Solow, R. M. (1991). Sustainability: An Economist’s Perspective. Paper Presented at the Eighteenth J. Seward Johnson Lecture to the Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, at Woods Hole, Massachusetts (June 14). In Robert Stavins, ed., Economics of the Environment. New York: W. W. Norton, pp. 131–38.

IMF (1999). Should Equity Be a Goal of Economic Policy? IMF Fiscal Affairs Department.

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 22

Supplementary Materials 3: Definitions

Definitions For Equitably Addressing Marine Plastic Pollution August 2023

Contributors: Richard Caddell (University of Cardiff), Juliano Calil (Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Center for the Blue Economy), Elaine Faustman (University of Washington), Indira James-Henry (Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust), Eliya Baron Lopez, Heather Trim (Zero Waste Washington)

Terms and Definitions Term

Definition

Context

Compostable

Compost refers to the final product of composting. It is basically a soil improver (or a peat substitute in potting mixes) but also provides for a supply of nutrients, thereby replacing chemical fertilizer in croplands, it makes soil fertile and improves the soil structure, biological functions and biodiversity, and water retention capacity. Composting: biological transformation process under proper aerobic conditions, that partly degrades and partly transforms organic matter into humus-like substances; the process evolves through a thermopilic phase (whereby sanitization of materials is ensured) and leads to a stabilised material, where residual fermentation is reduced to the least. Composting takes place in presence of oxygen.

Cambodia

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 23

Source https://comped-cam. org/Documents/dev elopmentguideline/ 06_03_25_Environ mental%20gl%20on %20swm_END.pdf

Term

Definition

Context

Compostable

Composting is a natural biological process resulting in the breakdown of organic matter into valuable organic fertilizer.

This process is carried out under controlled aerobic conditions (i.e., requiring oxygen) and the breakdown is achieved by various microorganisms.

Cambodia

https://niph.org.kh/ni ph/uploads/library/p df/GL012_HCW_Gui deline_Eng.pdf

Compostable

Compostable plastics means plastic that undergoes degradation by biological processes during composting to yield CO2, water, inorganic compounds, and biomass at a rate consistent with other known compostable materials, excluding conventional petro-based plastics, and does not leave visible, distinguishable or toxic residue.

New Delhi

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/2464_S_201 8_Plastic_Waste_M anagement.pdf

Compostable

Composting shall refer to the controlled decomposition of organic matter by microorganisms, mainly bacteria and fungi, into a humus-like product.

Philippines

https://emb.gov.ph/ wp-content/uploads/ 2015/09/RA-9003.p df

Compostable

In terms of polymers, those that are compostable are capable of being biodegraded at elevated temperatures in soil under specified conditions and time scales, usually only encountered in an industrial composter.

UNEP

"From Pollution to Solution: A Global Assessment of Marine Litter and Plastic Pollution"

Compostable

Compostable packaging waste that can be recycled through a process of organic recovery comprised of composting and anaerobic digestion.

UNEP

"Legal Limits on Single-Use Plastics and Microplastics"

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 24

Source

Term

Definition

Context

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

An environmental policy approach in which a producer's responsibility for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of a product's life cycle.

Canada

https://ccme.ca/en/c urrent-activities/wast e

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

The responsibility of a producer for the environmentally sound management of the product until the end of its life.

India

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/2464_S_201 8_Plastic_Waste_M anagement.pdf

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

Measures that extend a person's or a firm’s financial or physical responsibility for a product to the postconsumer stage of the product, and includes: (a) waste minimisation programmes; (b) deposit – refund and take back schemes; (c) financial arrangements for any fund that has been established to promote the reduction, re-use, recycling, and recovery of waste; (d) awareness programmes to inform the public of the impacts of waste emanating from the product on health and the environment; and (e) any other measures to reduce the potential impact of the product on health and the environment.

Kenya

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/8035_N_Nati onal_Sustainable_W aste_Management.p df

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

A policy approach under which producers are given a significant responsibility – financial and/or physical – for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products.

Nordic Council

https://pub.norden.o rg/temanord2020-5 35/temanord2020-5 35.pdf

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 25

Source

Term

Definition

Context

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

The responsibility of a producer for the entire life cycle of the product, including responsibility for take back, recycling, and final disposal of the product.

Uganda

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4990_N_202 0_National_Environ ment_Waste_Manag ement.pdf

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

An environmental policy approach in which a producer’s responsibility for a product is extended to the waste stage of that product’s life cycle. In practice, EPR involves producers taking responsibility for the management of products after they become waste, including: collection; pre-treatment, e.g., sorting, dismantling, or depollution; (preparation for) reuse; and recovery (including recycling and energy recovery) or final disposal. EPR systems can allow producers to exercise their responsibility by providing the financial resources required and/or by taking over the operational aspects of the process from municipalities. They assume the responsibility voluntarily or mandatorily. EPR systems can be implemented individually or collectively.

UNEP

https://wedocs.unep. org/bitstream/handl e/20.500.11822/406 83/K2221529%20-% 20UNEP-PP-INC.1-6 %20-%20Advance.p df

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

Policy approach under which the responsibility of producers – financial and/or physical – is extended beyond the use of their products (e.g., for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products/waste). By varying the financial contributions of producers to the system according to the ease of recycling or recovery, EPR schemes may be effective ways of influencing product design towards enhanced circularity.

UNEP

https://wedocs.unep. org/bitstream/handl e/20.500.11822/3510 9/ASUP.pdf?sequen ce=3&isAllowed=y

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 26

Source

Term

Definition

Context

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

An environmental policy approach in which a producer’s responsibility for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of a product’s life cycle. It has two related features: (1) the shifting of responsibility, physically and/or economically (fully or partially), upstream toward the producer and away from municipalities for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products; and (2) providing incentives to producers to incorporate environmental considerations in the design of their products.

UNEP

"Legal Limits on Single-Use Plastics and Microplastics"

Food Packaging

"Single use plastic food ware" means any object made in whole or in part from plastic that is commonly used to consume, contain, store, separate, serve, or transport any food or drink.

Bahamas

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/8006_N_201 9_Environmental_Pr otection_Control_of. pdf

Food Packaging

"Disposable food service ware" or "disposables" means single-use, disposable products used for serving or transporting prepared food, raw food, or beverages. This includes but is not limited to plates, bowls, trays, wrappers or wrapping, platters, cartons, condiment containers, cups or drink ware, straws, lids, utensils, stirrers, lid plugs (splash sticks), or any other container in or on which prepared foods, raw foods, or beverages are placed or packaged for consumption.

Hermosa Beach, CA

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/7018_S_2019 _Chapter_8_64_He rmosa_Beach.pdf

Food Packaging

"Food packaging" means all bags, sacks, wrapping, containers, bowls, plates, trays, cartons, cups, straws, and lids on or in which any foods or beverages are placed or packaged or are intended to be placed or packaged. Food packaging does not

Monterey County, CA

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/9036_S_202 0_Restrictions_on_t he_Use.pdf

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 27

Source

Term

Context

Definition

(Location/Organization)

Source

include polystyrene foam coolers and ice chests used for item storage or transportation and/or intended for reuse.

Food Packaging

All bags, sacks, wrapping, containers, bowls, plates, trays, cartons, cups, straws, and lids on or in which any foods or beverages are placed or packaged or are intended to be placed or packaged. Food packaging does not include polystyrene foam coolers and ice chests used for item storage or transportation and/or intended for reuse.

Monterey County, CA

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/9036_S_202 0_Restrictions_on_t he_Use.pdf

Food Packaging

“Food Service Ware” means all containers, bowls, plates, trays, cups, lids, straws, forks, spoons, knives, napkins, and other like items that are designed for a single use for Prepared Foods, including without limitation, service ware for takeout foods and/or leftovers from partially consumed meals prepared by Food Vendors. The term “Food Service Ware” includes Food Service Ware Accessories and does not include items composed entirely of aluminum, or polystyrene foam coolers and ice chests.

San Francisco, CA

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/7016_S_2019 _Chapt_16_SF_Envi ronment_Code.pdf

Food Packaging

“Food containers” means receptacles such as boxes, with or without a cover, used to contain food which is: (a) intended for immediate consumption, either on-the-spot or as takeaway; (b) typically consumed from the receptacle; and (c) ready to be consumed without any further preparation, such as cooking, boiling, or heating.

Scotland, UK

https://www.legislati on.gov.uk/ssi/2021/4 10/regulation/2/mad e

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 28

Term

Definition

Context

Plastic

A synthetic material made from a wide range of organic polymers, such as polyetheylene, polyvinyl chloride, or nylon, that can be molded into shape while soft and set into a rigid or slightly elastic form.

Bahamas

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/8006_N_201 9_Environmental_Pr otection_Control_of. pdf

Plastic

A synthetic or semisynthetic material chemically synthesized by the polymerization of organic substances that can be shaped into various rigid and flexible forms, and includes coatings and adhesives. “Plastic” includes, without limitation, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high density polyethylene (HDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), low density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polylactic acid (PLA), and aliphatic biopolyesters, such as polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB).

“Plastic” does not include natural rubber or naturally occurring polymers such as proteins or starches.

CA Legislature

https://leginfo.legisla ture.ca.gov/faces/bill TextClient.xhtml?bill _id=202120220SB5 4

Plastic

A material consisting of a polymer as defined in point 5 of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, to which additives or other substances may have been added, and which can function as a main structural component of final products, with the exception of natural polymers that have not been chemically modified.

EU

https://eur-lex.europ a.eu/legal-content/E N/TXT/PDF/?uri=CEL EX:32019L0904&fro m=EN

Plastic

A material consisting of a solid polymer or co-polymer to which additives or fillers, including glass fiber or graphite, may have been added. Polymers can be thermoplastics, thermosets, as well as elastomers. They can be synthetic (polymerized from bio-based, fossil-based, or inorganic monomers as in the case

GAIA

https://apps1.unep.or g/resolutions/upload s/gaia.pdf

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 29

Source

Term

Context

Definition

(Location/Organization)

Source

of silicone), or semi-synthetic (chemically-processed natural polymers that have been extruded into filaments [e.g., viscose], lyocell, or film [e.g., cellophane], or undergone other heavy chemical processing such as vulcanization [e.g., rubber]) (see Hartmann et al., 2019). Water-soluble polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) should also be regulated as plastics given their use in detergent encapsulation has been shown to lead to microplastic pollution due to incomplete dissolution (Rolsky et al. 2021).

Plastic

“Plastic” means a synthetic material made from linking monomers through a chemical reaction to create an organic polymer chain that may be molded or extruded at high heat into various solid forms that retain the defined shapes of the solid forms–(1) during the life cycle of, and (2) after the disposal of–the solid form.

Indiana

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/8013_S_2019 _Recycling_and_Re duction_of_Litter.pdf

Plastic

A solid material which contains as an essential ingredient one or more high molecular mass polymers and which is formed (shaped) during either manufacture of the polymer or the fabrication into a finished product by heat and/or pressure.

Plastics have material properties ranging from hard and brittle to soft and elastic. For the purposes of this annex, “all plastics” means all garbage that consists of or includes plastic in any form, including synthetic ropes, synthetic fishing nets, plastic garbage bags, and incinerator ashes from plastic products.

MARPOL Annex V

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4439_I_2011 _Amendments_to_t he_Annex.pdf

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 30

Term

Definition

Context

Plastic

A synthetic material made from a wide range of organic polymers such as polyethylene, PVC, nylon, etc., that can be molded into shape while soft and then set into a rigid or slightly elastic form.

Marshall Islands

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/2423_N_201 6_Styrofoam_and_p lastic_products.pdf

Plastic

A petroleum-based material (petrochemicals) or its derivatives (biologically based polymers).

Mauritius

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4986_N_202 0_Environment_Reg ulation_Banning_Pla stic.pdf

Plastic

Material which contains as an essential ingredient a high polymer such as polyethylene terephthalate, high density polyethylene, Vinyl, low density polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene resins, multi-materials like acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polyphenylene oxide, polycarbonate, Polybutylene erephthalate.

New Delhi

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/2464_S_201 8_Plastic_Waste_M anagement.pdf

Plastic

A synthetic polymeric substance that can be moulded, extruded, or physically manipulated into various solid forms and that retains its final manufactured shape during use in its intended applications.

UK (Scotland)

https://www.legislati on.gov.uk/ssi/2018/1 62/regulation/2/mad e

Plastic

A synthetic polymer of large molecular mass that generally has a linear structure and may include additives for specific characteristics. The source material to manufacture plastics can be either fossil or bio based. Plastics are mouldable, they can be thermoset (moulded once) or thermoplastic (moulded over multiple cycles) and are “used for the containment,

UK; UK Plastics Pact

https://wrap.org.uk/t aking-action/plasticpackaging/the-uk-pl astics-pact/The-Uk-P lastics-Pact-Definitio ns

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 31

Source

Term

Context

Definition

(Location/Organization)

Source

protection, handling, delivery and presentation of goods, from raw materials to processed goods, from the producer to the user or the consumer.”

Plastic

A solid material which contains as an essential ingredient one or more high-molecularmass polymers and which is formed (shaped) during either manufacture of the polymer or the fabrication into a finished product by heat and/or pressure.

Plastics have material properties ranging from hard and brittle to soft and elastic.

UNEP

https://wedocs.unep. org/bitstream/handl e/20.500.11822/406 83/K2221529%20-% 20UNEP-PP-INC.1-6 %20-%20Advance.p df

Plastic

Synthetic organic polymers with thermo-plastics or thermo-set properties (synthesized from hydrocarbon or biomass raw materials), elastomers (e.g., butyl rubber), material fibres, monofilament lines, coatings, and ropes (GESAMP 2019). Many plastics are produced as a mixture of different polymers and various plasticizers, colorants, stabilizers, and other additives.

Most plastics can be divided into two main categories: thermoplastics (capable of being deformed by heating), which include polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene; and thermoset (non- deformable), which include polyurethane, paints, and epoxy resins. About 15% of total synthetic polymer production consists of fibres, such as polyester and acrylic.

Another significant component of marine litter is semi-synthetic material, such as cellulose nitrate and rayon, made from biomass (UNEP 2018b).

UNEP

"From Pollution to Solution: A Global Assessment of Marine Litter and Plastic Pollution"

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 32

Term

Definition

Context

Plastic

A synthetic material made from linking monomers through a chemical reaction to create a polymer chain that can be molded or extruded at high heat into various solid forms that retain their defined shapes during their life cycle and after disposal, including material derived from either petroleum or a biologically based polymer, such as corn or other plant sources.

Vermont

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/7034_S_201 9_No69_An_Act_rel ated_to.pdf

Packaging

All the products, regardless of their origin and the material they are made of, used by each person along the chain from the producer to the end users for keeping, preservation, handling, supply, and presenting of whatever goods from raw materials to ready products. The articles for one time use (bags, cups, buckets, boxes for one time use as well as other articles, which are offered immediately to the client at the place of sale together with the products, for which packaging they are designated) shall also be considered packaging in the cases when they are used for the same purposes.

Bulgaria

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4033_N_200 5_Ordinance_on_Pa ckaging.pdf

Packaging

At the moment of the purchase, it includes a defined number of goods for sale, regardless of whether the goods are sold to the consumer packed or the packaging serve only for storage and preservation of the goods at the place of sale. The group packaging can be separated from the product without affecting its characteristics.

Bulgaria

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4033_N_200 5_Ordinance_on_Pa ckaging.pdf

Packaging

All products made of any materials of any nature to be used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery and presentation of goods, from raw materials to processed goods,

EU

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/2503_I_2015

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 33

Source

Term

Context

Definition

(Location/Organization)

Source _Directive_94_62_E C.pdf

from the producer to the user or the consumer.

“Non-returnable” items used for the same purposes shall also be considered to constitute packaging.

Packaging

“Packaging” consists only of: (a) sales packaging or primary packaging, i.e., packaging conceived so as to constitute a sales unit to the final user or consumer at the point of purchase; (b) grouped packaging or secondary packaging, i.e., packaging conceived so as to constitute at the point of purchase a grouping of a certain number of sales units whether the latter is sold as such to the final user or consumer or whether it serves only as a means to replenish the shelves at the point of sale (it can be removed from the product without affecting its characteristics); (c) transport packaging or tertiary packaging, i.e., packaging conceived so as to facilitate handling and transport of a number of sales units or grouped packagings in order to prevent physical handling and transport damage. Transport packaging does not include road, rail, ship, and air containers.

EU Parliament

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/2503_I_2015 _Directive_94_62_E C.pdf

Packaging

Sales, or primary, packaging is packaging made in such a way that it represents a single unit for the end user or the consumer at the place of sale. It includes glasses, mugs, bags, cans, bottles, plastic bottles, tubes, boxes, boards, pipes, and other or other similar packaging with the components wrapping or containing the basic unit of goods intended for sale to the end user or consumer, at the place of sale and protect the goods from damage or contamination. The single­-use plates and glasses are also sales packaging.

EU Parliament

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/2503_I_2015 _Directive_94_62_E C.pdf

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 34

Term

Context

Definition

(Location/Organization)

Group, or secondary, packaging is packaging made in such a way that, as a group, wraps or holds together a number of basic units with retail sales pack of the same or different type of goods at the place of purchase, regardless of whether they are sold to the end user or consumer as a group or are sold individually as a sale unit or serve as a means for delivery to the sale point. The group packaging can be removed from the sales units without affecting its characteristics. This includes folios, boxes, and similar materials for wrapping or other packaging whose components are intended for distribution, storage, transport, or delivery of goods for sale to the end user or consumer. If the group packaging also performs the function of sales packaging it shall be considered as sales packaging.

Transport, or tertiary, packaging is packaging made in such a way that it wraps or holds together a greater number of basic sales units with sales or group packaging in order to facilitate the handling and transportation of the goods and to protect it from damage during the process of handling and transportation. These include barrels, crates, flagons, bags, pallets, boxes, or other similar packaging. If the transport packaging at the same time performs the function of a sales packaging it shall be considered as sales packaging.

Containers, that are used for transport of goods in road, rail, sea, or air traffic, are not transport packaging, and where necessary, the determination of which item is considered as "packaging."

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 35

Source

Term

Definition

Context

Packaging

A disposable or other product which is intended for containing or preserving a material or an item, facilitating its presentation or enabling its processing, or for its transfer from the producer to a consumer or to another user, and which meets the additional criteria in Annex 1 on sales, grouped, or transport packaging, as well as other additional criteria.

Finland

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/9018_N_201 4_Government_Dec ree_Packaging_Was te.pdf

Packaging

Packaging are all products made from any type of material used for the storage, protection, handling, delivery and presentation of goods, from the producer to the consumer or user, regardless of whether the goods is raw material or a finished product. "Non-­returnable” items used for the same purposes are also considered as packaging, including the auxiliary means used for wrapping, sealing, connecting, and/or use of goods, marking of goods, preparation for delivery or closing of goods. It shall be also be done through the application of the following criteria: the item is considered as packaging provided that it meets one of the definitions of a packaging referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, regardless of the other functions it has, provided that the packaging is an integral part of the product and it is necessary in order to retain its content, support it or protect the product throughout its whole life cycle and all elements of the packaging are intended to be used, spent and removed together with the product, the item which is designed or intended to be filled with content at the place of sale and the item intended “for single use" that is sold, filled, or is designed and intended to be filled on the place of sale is considered as packaging provided that it meets one of the definitions referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, the packaging components and the

Macedonia

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4457_N_201 5_Law_on_Manage ment_of_Packaging. pdf

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 36

Source

Term

Context

Definition

(Location/Organization)

Source

auxiliary elements integrated into packaging are considered part of the package in which are embedded. The auxiliary elements that are directly hung or attached to a product, performing the function of packaging are considered to be packaging unless they are not part of that product and if all elements are intended to be used or removed together with the product.

Packaging

Plastic wrapping, casing, or container prepared in advance to seal goods to protect from deterioration or contamination with other goods or extraneous matter, with a tamper proof seal and labeled to describe the product before sale or distribution or offer.

Tanzania

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/2483_N_201 9_Environmental_M anagement_Act.pdf

Producer

“Producer or importer of packed goods, fulfilling his obligations individually” is the one, who does not have a trademark under Art. 62, paragraph 5 of WMA and has presented programme under Art. 29, paragraph 1, item 4 of WMA before the respective RIEW. “Producer of packed goods” is an individual or corporate body, who produces and distributes on the market goods, packed in user’s, group or transport packaging.

“Producer of packaging” is each person, who produces packaging, materials for packaging of products, from which packaging can be produced, as well as each person, who imports packaging materials or products for direct production of packaging.

Bulgaria

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4033_N_200 5_Ordinance_on_Pa ckaging.pdf

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 37

Term

Definition

Context

Producer

“Producer” means: (a) any natural or legal person established in a Member State that professionally manufactures, fills, sells or imports, irrespective of the selling technique used, including by means of distance contracts as defined in point (7) of Article 2 of Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, and places on the market of that Member State single-use plastic products, filled single-use plastic products or fishing gear containing plastic, other than persons carrying out fishing activities as defined in point (28) of Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council; or (b) any natural or legal person established in one Member State or in a third country that professionally sells in another Member State directly to private households or to users other than private households, by means of distance contracts as defined in point (7) of Article 2 of Directive 2011/83/EU, single-use plastic products, filled single-use plastic products or fishing gear containing plastic, other than persons carrying out fishing activities as defined in point (28) of Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013.

EU Parliament

https://eur-lex.europ a.eu/legal-content/E N/TXT/PDF/?uri=CEL EX:32019L0904&fro m=EN

Producer

Any natural or legal person established in a Member State to this Convention or in a third country that professionally sells in another Member State directly to private households or to users other than private households, by means of distance contracts as defined in point XX plastic products, filled plastic products or fishing gear containing plastic, other than persons carrying out fishing activities as defined in [N.N.].

Germany

https://apps1.unep.or g/resolutions/upload s/germany_1.pdf

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 38

Source

Term

Definition

Context

Producer

“Producer” means persons engaged in manufacture or import of carry bags or multilayered packaging or plastic sheets or like, and includes industries or individuals using plastic sheets or like or covers made of plastic sheets or multi-layered packaging for packaging or wrapping the commodity.

India

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/2464_S_201 8_Plastic_Waste_M anagement.pdf

Producer

Producer” means any person importing, bottling, canning, or otherwise filling beverages in beverage containers intended to be placed on the market in the territory, irrespective of the bottling, canning, filling or importing technique used, and irrespective of how the beverage in beverage container is placed on the market, including: S.L. 378. 17. (i) placing on the market by means of distance contracts as defined in regulation 2 of the Consumer Rights Regulations; and S.L. 378. 17. (ii) placing on the market directly to private households or to consumers other than private households, including by means of distance contracts as defined in regulation 2 of the Consumer Rights Regulations.

Malta

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4989_N_202 0_Beverage_Contai ners_Recycling_Reg ulations.pdf

Producer

“Producer" means any natural or legal person who: (a) is established in Malta and manufactures packaging or packaging material to be put on the market in Malta; (b) is established in Malta and puts on the market of Malta, on a professional basis, packaging, packaging material or packaged goods, from a third country or from another EU Member State; S.L. 378.17 (c) sells packaging or packaging material by means of distance communication as defined in the Consumer Rights Regulations directly to consumers in Malta and is established in another EU Member State or third country."

Malta

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/1813_N_2017 _Waste_Manageme nt_Packaging.pdf

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 39

Source

Term

Definition

Context

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recyclable packaging for a product, means reasonably able to be recovered in Australia through an approved or accredited collection or drop-off system, and able to be reprocessed and used as a raw material for the manufacture of a new product.

Recycle, for a product, means to recover the product and use it as a raw material to produce another product.

Australia

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/9014_N_Nati onal_Environment_P rotection.pdf

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling processes for converting materials that would have otherwise been disposed of into new materials.

Australia

https://www.dcceew. gov.au/sites/default/f iles/documents/nati onal-waste-policy-ac tion-plan-2019.pdf

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling activities in which solid wastes are collected, sorted, processed (including through composting), and converted into raw materials to be used in the production of new products (the amount of solid waste recycled is net of any residuals disposed). Excludes energy recovery and stockpiles.

Australia

https://www.dcceew. gov.au/sites/default/f iles/documents/aust ralian-plastics-recycli ng-survey-report-20 18-19.pdf

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling means the process of collecting, sorting, cleansing, treating, and reconstituting materials that would otherwise ultimately be disposed of onto land or into water or the atmosphere, and returning them to, or maintaining them within, the economic mainstream in the form of recovered material for new, reused, or reconstituted products, including compost, that meet the quality standards necessary to be used in the marketplace.

California

https://leginfo.legisla ture.ca.gov/faces/bill TextClient.xhtml?bill _id=202120220SB5 4

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 40

Source

Term

Definition

Context

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling: processing material that would become solid waste, applied to nonhazardous materials that have value as a feedstock.

(1) “Recycle” or “recycling” means the process of collecting, sorting, cleansing, treating, and reconstituting materials that would otherwise ultimately be disposed of onto land or into water or the atmosphere, and returning them to, or maintaining them within, the economic mainstream in the form of recovered material for new, reused, or reconstituted products, including compost, that meet the quality standards necessary to be used in the marketplace.

(2) “Recycle” or “recycling” does not include any of the following: (a) combustion; (b) incineration; (c) energy generation; (d) fuel production, except for anaerobic digestion of source separated organic materials; or (e) other forms of disposal.

(3) To be considered recycled, covered material shall be sent to a responsible end market. For any mixture of plastic waste exported to another country, the PRO or producer shall certify to the department that the processes and recycling technologies used meet both of the following requirements, as determined by the department.

California

SB54

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recyclable waste: waste materials that can be reused or processed into intermediate or new products.

Cambodia

https://comped-cam. org/Documents/dev elopmentguideline/ 06_03_25_Environ mental%20gl%20on %20swm_END.pdf

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 41

Source

Term

Definition

Context

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling: any activity or process of breaking or transforming garbage and solid waste into raw materials serving for reproduction.

Cambodia

https://www.ajne.org /sites/default/files/re source/laws/7216/su b-decree-113-on-gar bage-and-municipalwaste_management -translated.pdf

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling: any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of organic material but does not include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or for backfilling operations.

Germany

https://apps1.unep.or g/resolutions/upload s/germany_1.pdf

Ireland

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/2178_N_200 7_Waste_Managem ent_Packaging.pdf

(Location/Organization)

Source

Recyclability: Fundamental and gradual suitability of any given packaging to substitute virgin material in applications typical for that material after undergoing recycling processes available on an industrial scale. 3 criteria: (1) Vailability of a sorting and recycling infrastructure that allows for that, (2) Sortability of the packaging, separability of its components, and (3) No recycling incompatibilities of packaging components or substances there.

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling means, in relation to packaging waste, the reprocessing in a production process of the waste materials for their original purpose or for other purposes including organic recycling but excluding energy recovery. Energy recovery means the use of combustible packaging waste as a means to

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 42

Term

Context

Definition

(Location/Organization)

Source

generate energy through direct incineration with or without other waste but with the recovery of heat.

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycle: a process where waste is reclaimed for further use, which involves the separation of waste from a waste stream for further use and the processing of that separated material as a product or raw material.

Kenya

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/8035_N_Nati onal_Sustainable_W aste_Management.p df

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling means any process by which materials are diverted from the solid waste stream and are collected, separated, processed, and returned to the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials or products for re-use. “Recyclables” means waste materials of the type required to be recycled pursuant to these Regulations.

Malawi

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/8057_N_200 8_Environment_Man agement_Waste_Ma nagement.pdf

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling means the reprocessing in a production process of beverage containers for the original purpose or for other purposes including organic recycling but excluding energy recovery.

Malta

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4989_N_202 0_Beverage_Contai ners_Recycling_Reg ulations.pdf

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling means any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials, or substances whether for the original or other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of organic material, but does not include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or for backfilling operations.

Malta

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/2215_N_2011 _Waste_Regulations .pdf

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 43

Term

Definition

Context

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling Transforming the waste through different processes that allow it to restore its economic value, thus avoiding its final disposition, provided that this refund favours energy and raw material savings without prejudice to health, ecosystems, or their elements.

Mexico

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/5979_N_200 3_General_Law_for. pdf

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling means the process of transforming segregated plastic waste into a new product or raw material for producing new products.

New Delhi

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/2464_S_201 8_Plastic_Waste_M anagement.pdf

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling the reprocessing of the waste materials to enable use as per the original purpose of the original material.

Nordic Council

https://pub.norden.o rg/temanord2020-5 35/temanord2020-5 35.pdf

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recyclable material shall refer to any waste material retrieved from the waste stream and free from contamination that can still be converted into suitable beneficial use or for other purposes, including, but not limited to, newspaper, ferrous scrap metal, non-ferrous scrap metal, used oil, corrugated cardboard, aluminum, glass, office paper, tin cans, and other materials as may be determined by the Commission. Recycled material shall refer to post-consumer material that has been recycled and returned to the economy. Recycling shall refer to the treating of used or waste materials through a process of making them suitable for beneficial use and for other purposes, and includes any process by which solid waste materials are transformed into new products in such a manner that the original products may lose their identity, and which

Philippines

https://emb.gov.ph/ wp-content/uploads/ 2015/09/RA-9003.p df

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 44

Source

Term

Context

Definition

(Location/Organization)

Source

may be used as raw materials for the production of other goods or services: Provided, That the collection, segregation and re-use of previously used packaging material shall be deemed recycling under this Act. Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling the process of collecting and processing plastic materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products.

Rwanda

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4207_N_Law _N.pdf

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recyclable means material that can be sorted, cleansed, and reconstituted using the City’s available recycling collection programs for the purpose of using the altered form in the manufacture of a new product. Recycling does not include burning, incinerating, converting, or otherwise thermally destroying solid waste.

San Francisco, CA

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/7016_S_2019 _Chapt_16_SF_Envi ronment_Code.pdf

Recycling/ Recyclable

[regards to material recycling] Reprocessing, by means of a manufacturing process, of a used packaging material into a product, a component incorporated into a product, or a secondary (recycled) raw material; excluding energy recovery and the use of the product as a fuel.

U.S.; Ellen McArthur Foundation

https://emf.thirdlight. com/link/pq2algvgn v1n-uitck8/@/previe w/1?o

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling means any recovery operation by which waste materials are re-processed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes, and includes the reprocessing of organic material.

Uganda

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4990_N_202 0_National_Environ ment_Waste_Manag ement.pdf

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 45

Term

Definition

Context

Recycling/ Recyclable

Recycling means processing of waste materials for the original purpose or for other purposes, excluding energy recovery.

UNEP

https://wedocs.unep. org/bitstream/handl e/20.500.11822/406 83/K2221529%20-% 20UNEP-PP-INC.1-6 %20-%20Advance.p df

Responsible End Markets

“Responsible end market” means a materials market in which the recycling and recovery of materials or the disposal of contaminants is conducted in a way that benefits the environment and minimizes risks to public health and worker health and safety. The department may adopt regulations to identify responsible end markets and to establish criteria regarding benefits to the environment and minimizes risks to public health and worker health and safety.

California

SB54

Responsible End Markets

Responsible end market is defined as follows in ORS 459A.863: “a materials market in which the recycling or recovery of materials or the disposal of contaminants is conducted in a way that benefits the environment and minimizes risks to public health and worker health and safety.”

(1) Definitions for “end market” that specify which persons (i.e., companies or facilities) in the recycling supply chain are considered the “end market.” These definitions extend as far down the supply chain as would make a meaningful difference to the environmental, social, economic and health impacts of materials. For most recycling pathways the end market is defined as the persons producing recyclates. Glass and plastics for certain end uses (food and beverage, children's toys) are the exceptions, with DEQ proposing to require accountability further downstream given the potential for

Oregon

https://www.oregon. gov/deq/recycling/D ocuments/BckgrdPa perforResponsibleE ndMarkets-En.pdf

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 46

Source

Term

Context

Definition

(Location/Organization)

Source

significant environmental and human health impacts associated with the use of post-consumer content during production. (2) A four-element standard for “responsible” to be applied to all persons in the supply chain up to and including the end market. To be “responsible,” the supply chain entities must be compliant, transparent, environmentally-sound, and achieve material-specific recycling yields.

Responsible End Markets

Viable end-markets – sustainable and profitable reprocessing of an end-of-life product, particularly collected plastic waste.

Nordic Council

https://pub.norden.o rg/temanord2020-5 35/temanord2020-5 35.pdf

Reuse

Reuse Reallocation of a product or material without reprocessing or remanufacture. This may be applied to products or materials before or after they become waste, including via sale of goods from a tip shop.

Australia

https://www.dcceew. gov.au/sites/default/f iles/documents/nati onal-waste-policy-ac tion-plan-2019.pdf

Reuse

Reusable when used in relation to plastic food ware means an object that is specifically designed and manufactured for multiple reuse, and composed of durable material suitable for multiple washings and reuse.

Bahamas

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/8006_N_201 9_Environmental_Pr otection_Control_of. pdf

Reuse

Reuse is each operation, with which the packaging, designated, and designed to do respective minimum number of transportations and uses within the framework of its life cycle, are filled or used again for the purpose, for which they have been designed, with or without the help of additional

Bulgaria

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4033_N_200 5_Ordinance_on_Pa ckaging.pdf

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 47

Term

Context

Definition

(Location/Organization)

Source

products, giving opportunity for following use of the packaging and its distribution on the market. The multiply used packaging shall turn into waste when it cannot be used any more.

Reuse

Reuse refers to the selection of garbage and solid waste that can be reused by just cleaning or repairing as its original feature remains.

Cambodia

https://www.ajne.org /sites/default/files/re source/laws/7216/su b-decree-113-on-gar bage-and-municipalwaste_management -translated.pdf

Reuse

Reusable products or packaging designed to be used several times for the same purpose. They are not products or packaging designed to be discarded after a single use, but that consumers may attempt to reuse several times. Reusable packaging owned by businesses requires adequate logistics to support return and reuse, supported by incentive systems such as deposits (see Schneider & Copello, 2022).

GAIA

https://apps1.unep.or g/resolutions/upload s/gaia.pdf

Reuse

Reuse means any operation by which products or components that are not waste are used again for the same purpose for which they were conceived.

Germany

https://apps1.unep.or g/resolutions/upload s/germany_1.pdf

Reuse

Reuse means the action or practise of using something again, whether for its original purpose or to fulfill a different function.

Kenya

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/8035_N_Nati onal_Sustainable_W aste_Management.p df

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 48

Term

Definition

Context

Reuse

Reuse means any operation by which products or components that are not waste are used again for the same purpose for which they were conceived.

Malta

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/2215_N_2011 _Waste_Regulations .pdf

Reuse

Reuse means any operation whereby a beverage container, which has been conceived and designed to accomplish within its life cycle a minimum number of trips or rotations, is refilled or used for the same purpose for which it was conceived, with or without the support of auxiliary products present on the market enabling the beverage container to be refilled, and such reused beverage container will become packaging waste when no longer subject to reuse.

Malta

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4989_N_202 0_Beverage_Contai ners_Recycling_Reg ulations.pdf

Reuse

Reuse a product or packaging that has been conceived and designed to accomplish, within its lifecycle, a certain number of trips, rotations, or uses for the same purpose for which it was conceived, without any physical or material change beyond cleaning and labeling and excluding the use of waste. A program must exist for collecting the used product or packaging and reusing it, or facilities or products exist that allow the purchaser to reuse the product or package.

Nordic Council

https://pub.norden.o rg/temanord2020-5 35/temanord2020-5 35.pdf

Reuse

Reuse shall refer to the process of recovering materials intended for the same or different purpose without the alteration of physical and chemical characteristics.

Philippines

https://emb.gov.ph/ wp-content/uploads/ 2015/09/RA-9003.p df

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 49

Source

Term

Definition

Context

Reuse

Reusable Packaging which has been designed to accomplish or proves its ability to accomplish a minimum number of trips or rotations in a system for reuse.

U.S.; Ellen McArthur Foundation

https://emf.thirdlight. com/link/pq2algvgn v1n-uitck8/@/previe w/1?o

Reuse

Reuse [per packaging] Operation by which packaging is refilled or used for the same purpose for which it was conceived, with or without the support of auxiliary products present on the market, enabling the packaging to be refilled.

U.S.; Ellen McArthur Foundation

https://emf.thirdlight. com/link/pq2algvgn v1n-uitck8/@/previe w/1?o

Reuse

Reuse means any operation by which products or components that are not waste are used again for the same purpose for which they were intended.

Uganda

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4990_N_202 0_National_Environ ment_Waste_Manag ement.pdf

Reuse

Reuse means any operation by which packaging, which has been conceived and designed to accomplish within its life cycle a minimum number of trips or rotations, is refilled or used for the same purpose for which it was conceived, with or without the support of auxiliary products present on the market enabling the packaging to be refilled, and reused packaging shall be construed accordingly; such reused packaging will become packaging waste when no longer subject to reuse.

UK

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/9024_N_201 5_Packaging_Essen tial_Requirements_R egulations.pdf

Reuse

Reuse any operation by which products or components that are not waste are used again for the same purpose for which they were conceived.

UK (Northern Ireland)

https://www.legislati on.gov.uk/nisr/2020/ 285/pdfs/nisr_2020 0285_en.pdf

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 50

Source

Term

Definition

Context

Reuse

Reuse the operation by which packaging is refilled or used for the same purpose for which it was conceived, with or without the support of auxiliary products present on the market, enabling the packaging to be refilled.

UK; UK Plastics Pact

https://wrap.org.uk/t aking-action/plasticpackaging/the-uk-pl astics-pact/The-Uk-P lastics-Pact-Definitio ns

Reuse

Reusable Operation by which packaging is refilled or used for the same purpose for which it was conceived, with or without the support of auxiliary products present on the market, enabling the packaging to be refilled.

UNEP

https://wedocs.unep. org/bitstream/handl e/20.500.11822/3510 9/ASUP.pdf?sequen ce=3&isAllowed=y

Reuse

Reuse means use of a product more than once in its original form.

UNEP

https://wedocs.unep. org/bitstream/handl e/20.500.11822/406 83/K2221529%20-% 20UNEP-PP-INC.1-6 %20-%20Advance.p df

Reuse

For packaging that is reused or refilled by a producer, it satisfies all of the following: (a) Explicitly designed and marketed to be utilized multiple times for the same product, or for another purposeful packaging use in a supply chain. (b) Designed for durability to function properly in its original condition for multiple cycles of reuse or refill. (c) Supported by adequate and convenient availability of retail infrastructure to ensure the packaging can be conveniently and safely reused or refilled by the consumer multiple times.

Washington

Heather Trim

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 51

Source

Term

Definition

Context

Single-Use Plastics

Made wholly or partly from plastic and that is not conceived, designed, or placed on the market to accomplish, within its life span, multiple trips, or rotations by being returned to a producer for refill or re-used for the same purpose for which it was conceived.

EU

https://eur-lex.europ a.eu/legal-content/E N/TXT/PDF/?uri=CEL EX:32019L0904&fro m=EN

Single-Use Plastics

Single-use plastic petroleum-based plastic products that are intended to be used only once before they are thrown away.

They are "disposable" products.

Nantucket, MA

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/1905_S_2018 _Nantucket_Chapte r_124.pdf

Single-Use Plastics

Disposable plastic items designed to be used once before it is discarded or recycled. Single-use plastic items include plastic carry bags, oxo-degradable plastics, and other items whose part is made from polyethylene.

Rwanda

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/4207_N_Law _N.pdf

Single-Use Plastics

Items are considered single-use if they are designed to be discarded after being used once.

Canada

https://www.canada. ca/en/environment-c limate-change/servic es/managing-reduci ng-waste/reduce-pla stic-waste/single-us e-plastic-technical-g uidance.html#toc6

Single-Use Plastics

Single-use plastic products, often also referred to as disposable plastics, are commonly used plastic packaging including items intended to be used only once before they are thrown away or recycled, e.g., grocery bags, food packaging, bottles, straws, containers, cups, cutlery, etc.

UNEP

"Legal Limits on Single-Use Plastics and Microplastics"

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 52

Source

Term

Definition

Context

Single-Use Plastics

Any plastic that is only used once and not returned to the value chain.

U.S.; America's Plastic Makers

https://plasticmakers .org/education-innov ation/glossary/

Waste Pickers

Workers in informal or cooperative settings who collect, sort, and sell household, commercial, or industrial waste materials.

GAIA

https://apps1.unep.or g/resolutions/upload s/gaia.pdf

Waste Pickers

Individuals, agencies, or groups of individuals who are voluntarily engaged or authorized for picking of recyclable plastic waste.

India

https://nicholasinstit ute.duke.edu/sites/d efault/files/plastics-p olicies/5942_N_201 6_Plastic_Waste_M anagement_Rules.p df

Waste Pickers

An individual or group of individuals that collects recyclable materials as part of the “informal recycling sector,” typically done in the absence of effective formal recycling systems in developing countries.

U.S.; America's Plastic Makers

https://plasticmakers .org/education-innov ation/glossary/

(Location/Organization)

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 53

Source

Supplementary Materials 4: Corporate Responsibility

Roadmap for Corporate Responsibility in Equitably Addressing Marine Plastic Pollution August 2023

Contributors: Rebeca de Buen Kalman (University of Washington), Andrew Kenefick (University of Washington), Karly McMullen (University of British Columbia), Ben Packard (University of Washington, Proctor & Gamble), Jessica Vandenberg (University of Rhode Island)

Roadmap Goal ● ● ● ●

Reduce the quantity of marine plastic waste.

Reverse or slow the increase in production of plastics.

Responsibly regulate plastic waste management.

Increase recycling rates for all plastic waste.

Assumptions ● Demand for plastic products and packaging will continue to increase. ● Plastics manufacturers and the petroleum industry will not voluntarily reduce the amount of plastic manufactured from virgin feedstocks. ● Costs of producing plastic feedstocks from recycled plastic wastes (inc. collection, cleaning, processing, etc.) will continue to exceed costs of producing plastics from virgin feedstocks.

Roadmap Elements 1. Reduce the generation of plastics produced from virgin petroleum feedstocks.

Possible Strategies: 1. Adopt recycled content standards and increase required recycled content percentages over time.

2. Impose financial incentives for reducing the use of virgin plastic feedstock (e.g., tax on virgin plastic feedstocks) and for substituting recycled plastic feedstocks (e.g., subsidies/tax credits for use of recycled plastic feedstocks).

3. Shift costs of recycling plastics from the public to the plastics manufacturers and the petroleum industry.

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 54

2. Improve the quality of recycled plastic feedstocks to compete with virgin plastic feedstocks.

Possible strategies: 1. Improve plastic labeling to reduce public confusion over what plastics are recyclable (e.g., eliminating confusion between RIC codes and “chasing arrow” recyclability logos).

2. Increase public education as to what plastics to recycle and what to discard.

3. Improve product design to eliminate combining valuable recyclable plastics with non-recyclable plastics/non-plastics or low-value plastics.

3. Decrease or eliminate the export of plastic wastes to countries that lack adequate recycling and waste management infrastructure or have poor enforcement of recycling requirements. Mismanagement of plastic waste by developed nations who export large volumes to developing countries results in illegal disposal.

Possible strategies: 1. Phase-out or prohibit the export of plastic wastes to countries lacking adequate recycling and waste management infrastructure or have poor enforcement of recycling requirements.

2. Compel exporting countries to develop more cost-effective recycling methods by formally requiring them to manage their own plastic wastes.

3. Improve recycling and waste management infrastructure in developing countries through grants and technology-sharing to reduce pollution from processing imported plastic wastes and domestically generated plastic waste.

4. Reduce the environmental risks from harmful chemical compounds in plastics.

Policies should include strategies for reducing the impact of plastics on human health and the environment.

Possible strategies: 1. Reduce or prohibit the use of hazardous compounds in plastic production.

2. Prohibit disposal methods that result in emissions or discharges of harmful compounds to the environment (e.g., waste incineration, uncontrolled landfilling).

5. Ensure equitable governance and representation in setting corporate responsibility requirements, policies, and incentives.

Possible strategies: 1. Ensure equitable decision-making and implementation. Who has a seat at the table?

2. Ensure industry accountability. The burden of end-of-life issues should be placed primarily on the producers (not on the consumer).

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 55

6. Monitor and track plastic wastes to improve compliance, ensure corporate responsibility, and identify further improvements.

Possible strategies: 1. As part of any taxing regime, require reporting of plastics generated from non-recycled plastic feedstocks and track trends over time.

2. Track changes in plastic production, waste management, and imports and exports.

7. Develop persuasive strategies for getting the required/essential actors to take actions necessary to implement this aim.

Possible strategies: 1. Enact international treaties or uniform international standards.

2. Require nations to commit to internal benchmarks (e.g., increasing plastics recycling rates, increasing recycled plastics content, reducing plastic production from virgin feedstocks, etc.).

ROADMAP TO AN EQUITABLE APPROACH TO MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION 56