is insufficient data to model this accurately. For the purpose of this report, conservative assumptions have been taken so as to not overstate the problem. For example, the report assumes, that in the fullness of time, all tobacco filters and packaging materials that were littered eventually reach the ocean due to their lightweight, while heavier plastic such as car parts are assumed to remain on terrestrial environments (see table 15).
TABLE 15: PERCENTAGE OF LITTERED PRODUCT AND PACKAGING REACHING THE OCEAN sectors included
% of littered packaging reaching the ocean
% of littered product reaching the ocean
Automobiles
0%
Soft drinks and ice
NR
Clothing and accessories
50%
Consumer electronics
0%
Durable household goods
0%
Food
NR
Personal products
NA
Athletic goods
50% 100%
Toys
50%
Tobacco
100%
Furniture
0%
Non-durable household goods
50%
Footwear
50%
Medical and pharmaceutical products
NR
Retail
NR
Restaurants and bars
NR
No consensus and very little data exist on the percentage of plastic reaching the marine environment, let alone on different types of plastic/products made of plastic in different countries. Trucost thus had to make assumptions and use best-guess estimates. The valuation for waste ending up in the ocean includes the disamenity caused to society, and the ocean valuation (explained in greater detail in the following part). The valuation for waste not reaching the ocean include the air, land, and water emissions generated in the open-dump and the leachate of additives, as well as the disamenity caused to society. Other ecological, economic and society impacts of litter on freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems are not included for lack of data.
DISAMENITY Disamenity does not have one agreed upon definition in the literature, however, it generally refers to the localised impacts of landfill activity that generate negative reactions from those located in the immediate vicinity.188 The European Commission specifies disamenity impact as referring to the ‘nuisance’ caused locally as a result of the presence of landfill – noise, dust, litter, odour, the presence of vermin, visual intrusion and enhanced perceptions of risk. The magnitude of the effects will depend on distance from the site, type of waste (non-hazardous or hazardous), status of the site (existing, new, or proposed), management practices, topography and prevailing wind directions. Only a limited number of valuation studies of disamenity have been undertaken for the waste sector.189,190 A number of studies were conducted in the US in the 1980s and early 1990s (especially for landfills). Only two European studies have been identified. Disamenity impacts were excluded completely from the Exiopol study in 2009 because it said that disamenity impacts were site specific. The study only indicates an order of magnitude based on a study from 2006 by Walton (1 Euro per tonne).191 Hedonic pricing studies require information on house prices near to a landfill site and specific information on sales of houses in this radius. Conducting a primary hedonic pricing study is not appropriate for this study as the location of the landfill sites is unknown and the number of sites is very large, making this technique beyond the scope of this valuation.
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