About this Research Topic

Background

UN International World Environment Day was first celebrated in 1973 and has since been observed annually to raise environmental awareness. This observance has served to urge governments and global organizations to take action on both urgent and growing environmental issues. On June 5, 2023, Frontiers in Sustainability will honor 50 years of celebrating World Environment Day by creating a platform for discussions and dissemination in line with this year’s theme ‘Solution to Plastic Pollution’, addressing one of the major global challenges: #BeatPlasticPollution.

Plastic pollution is an urgent global challenge, and judging by current growth trends in plastic waste, it is estimated that we will produce 1,100 million metric tons (Mt) of plastic by 2050. Today, more than 400 Mt of plastic is produced annually worldwide, and around half of is intended to be single-use, fast becoming waste. Much of this plastic waste around the world is not managed at all, not being collected for recycling or safe disposal, or is mismanaged: As a result, it is dumped in the environment, or burned in open uncontrolled fires. The end outcome is the pollution of our rivers, lakes, oceans, land, and air. Unmanaged plastic waste will continue to pollute all environmental media and even find its way to our food, potable water, and bodies, which could be detrimental to both human health and our ecosystems.

The resolution of the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA) has put in motion a massive international effort towards a legally binding international agreement. An Intergovernmental Negotiations Committee (INC) is convening to move things forward. An evidence-based approach is of paramount importance. There are tremendous ongoing efforts by the international scientific community to generate the necessary evidence to understand the nature, causal links, and preventive solutions to plastic pollution. These efforts are also associated with multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), not least SDG 1, 6, 11, 12.4, and 14.1. Taking a holistic and multidisciplinary approach to managing plastic pollution considers the importance of the environment, economy, society's well-being and prosperity, marine life, and biodiversity.

It is in this spirit that Frontiers in Sustainability will launch a new article collection to coincide with this UN International Day. This occasion offers an opportunity to acknowledge the need to manage plastic pollution in line with our core journal mission. We decided to align the thematic coverage here with the topics identified by the INC-2 and explore their interrelation with waste management and wider circularity. As such, we are keen on exploring themes related to, but are by no means limited to:

• Promoting sustainable consumption and production of plastics;
• Plastic pollution in relation to oceans and the marine environment, including transport, ghost fishing gear, dumping, pellet loss, and impacts on biodiversity;
• Monitoring the situation and monitoring the progress of the future instrument: objectives/targets and their associated baselines, indicators, and timelines;
• Plastic pollution, toxicity, chemicals, and potential risks to human health;
• Means of implementation, including resource mobilization and financial mechanisms;
• Microplastic: understanding the challenge and its impacts;
• Promoting circular economy to retain plastics in the economy and out of the environment, including innovation and expanding the share of circular plastics;
• Enabling change at local, national, and regional levels;
• Promoting environmentally sound management of plastic waste, including collection, sorting, and recycling, and consideration of investments;
• Existing plastic pollution: Challenges of SIDs and remote communities;
• Socio-economic considerations in the transition to circular approaches to plastic, including human rights approaches and inclusion of the informal waste sector.

We especially welcome manuscripts that offer new methodologies, models, comprehensive overviews on a global/regional level, systematic reviews, and much-focused commentaries on pertinent yet underexplored aspects. We are also keen on receiving genuinely multi- and intra-disciplinary research, cutting across the silos of traditional academic disciplines. Manuscripts that offer novel quantified insights and innovative theoretical frameworks and conceptualization are also of high relevance here.

Keywords: Plastic pollution, Solid waste management, Circular economy, Macro-plastics, Interdisciplinary, Global challenge; Global South, Informal sector recycling

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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