4.1 Types of Policy Instruments to Manage Plastic Pollution

TABLE 4.1 Types of Policy Instruments to Manage Plastic Pollution

Type of policy instruments Description Examples

Regulatory Mandate product standards, performance levels, or technologies to be used and restrictions on production or consumption of specific plastic products. They are as stringent as their enforcement (level of sanction for noncompliance weighted by probability of its imposition). Bans, prohibitions, standards, input thresholds, or limits

Economic Provide price incentives to firms and consumers to change behavior, use resources more efficiently, and reduce the negative environmental impacts, but do not force firms and consumers to change behavior if it is too costly. This flexibility of economic instruments allows affected stakeholders to meet the policy targets at the lowest overall cost (static efficiency). Economic instruments also provide dynamic efficiency because even after changing behavior, polluters still pay for any remaining environmental footprint and hence have an incentive to seek innovative, low-cost ways to further reduce it. Taxes and fees, subsidies, extended producer responsibility, and deposit-refund schemes

Informative, behavioral Facilitate information exchange and behavioral nudges along the plastics value chain and influence stakeholder (usually consumer) behavior to prevent and manage waste.

Source: World Bank 2022b. Awareness-raising campaigns, consumer education, environmental labeling, behavioral nudges

identification of alternatives to the product being banned or taxed. In Bangladesh, the absence of cost-effective alternatives to synthetic polymer bags was cited as hindering the effectiveness of the 2002 ban on plastic bags (Uddin et al. 2019). Even though the Bangladeshi government implemented the Jute Packaging Act (2010) to provide a market for local jute-based alternatives to plastic packaging, the jute-bag alternatives were expensive, costing the equivalent of 100–200 polyethylene bags, making the policy less effective. Conversely, after the plastic ban was introduced in Rwanda, the government provided subsidies for manufacturers of alternative materials and products.