Shaping EU Plastic Policies: The Role of Public Health vs. Environmental Arguments

Insights from international environmental legislation and protocols for the global plastic treaty

Plastic pollution has emerged as a global challenge necessitating collective efforts to mitigate its adverse environmental consequences. International negotiations are currently underway to establish a global plastic treaty. Emphasizing the need for solution-orientated research, rather than focusing on further defining the problems of widespread environmental occurrence and ecological impacts, this paper extracts insights and draws key patterns that are relevant for these international negotiations. The analysis reveals that (i) environmental rather than human health concerns have been the predominant driving force behind previous regulations targeting pollutants, and (ii) the decision to ban or discontinue the use of harmful pollutants is primarily affected by the availability of viable substitutes. These two key findings are relevant to the discussions of the ongoing Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on the global plastic treaty and underscore the recognition of environmental consequences associated with plastic pollution while emphasizing the need to enhance the knowledge base of potential human health risks. Leveraging the availability of substitutes can significantly contribute to the development and implementation of effective strategies aimed at reducing plastic usage and corresponding pollution.

Environmental health impacts of microplastics exposure on structural organization levels in the human body

The ubiquitous prevalence of microplastics pollution has raised concerns about microplastics' potential risks and impacts on the global environment. However, the potential human health risks and impacts of microplastics remain largely unexplored. By providing an overview regarding the interaction of microplastics and human health, this review extends current knowledge on the potential impacts of microplastics pollution on humans from an environmental health perspective. The paper firstly presents the characteristics of microplastics as well as the status of global microplastics pollution. As for human health, the potential hazards of microplastics are reflected by toxic chemical components, vectors of contaminants, and physical damage. Extensive microplastic pollution on ecosystems due to human activities leads to inevitable human exposure, which may occur by dietary, inhalation and/or skin contact. Accordingly, microplastics exposure is closely associated with human health. This study explores the potential interactions of microplastics with the biological organization at various levels, including chemical, cellular, tissue, organ, and system levels. The review concludes by highlighting five urgent perspectives and implications for future research on microplastics: 1) Developing a standard terminology and research methods; 2) Reinforcing microplastics pollution governance; 3) Exploring innovative strategies and technologies; 4) Engaging the public and change behaviour; and 5) Adopting a transdisciplinary approach.

Tripartite Evolutionary Game Analysis for Plastic Pollution Prevention and Control under the Background of China’s Plastic Ban

Controlling plastic pollution is an important issue in the field of sustainable development and is of great concern for numerous countries’ governments. After investigating the implementation of relevant policies, this paper analyzes the tripartite mainstay under the background of China’s Plastic Ban by constructing an evolutionary game model involving governments, enterprises and the public. Through simulation modeling, the paper then investigates the possible regulatory effects of different policies at the micro level. According to the results, the government should pay more attention to how it reacts to enterprises’ compliance strategies, both for the sake of the public and itself. It is vital to increase enterprises’ compliance rewards and decrease their compliance costs through various means such as policy changes and technological innovation. The policy’s effect can be improved if supervision and regulations are both enforced.

INNOVATION MANAGEMENT RESPONSES TO REGULATION—SUP-DIRECTIVE AND REPLACING PLASTIC

Changes in regulation trigger changes in the innovation environments. They may block specific development trajectories, but they may simultaneously inspire and stimulate completely new openings. In this study, we look into regulation that aims to address environmental problems and facilitate creation and diffusion of sustainable technologies and processes as we examine the responses of innovators to the regulation on plastic use and production—specifically, the so-called SUP-directive. A multiple-case study comprising six companies suggests that companies manage (with) the regulation-induced innovation and needs for change by adopting three distinctive strategies: (1) proactive change orientation, (2) reactive opportunity capturing, or (3) reactive survival mode. Acknowledging that sustainability-oriented regulation may push companies with environmentally friendly innovation activities and solutions towards reactive survival mode highlights the need for managerial agility in adjusting the solutions and the ability to adopt parallel innovation strategies. Observing the strategies adopted by innovators also is informative when evaluating whether the regulation meets its profound goals and intended effects.

Bacterial Nanocellulose toward Green Cosmetics: Recent Progresses and Challenges

In the skin care field, bacterial nanocellulose (BNC), a versatile polysaccharide produced by non-pathogenic acetic acid bacteria, has received increased attention as a promising candidate to replace synthetic polymers (e.g., nylon, polyethylene, polyacrylamides) commonly used in cosmetics. The applicability of BNC in cosmetics has been mainly investigated as a carrier of active ingredients or as a structuring agent of cosmetic formulations. However, with the sustainability issues that are underway in the highly innovative cosmetic industry and with the growth prospects for the market of bio-based products, a much more prominent role is envisioned for BNC in this field. Thus, this review provides a comprehensive overview of the most recent (last 5 years) and relevant developments and challenges in the research of BNC applied to cosmetic, aiming at inspiring future research to go beyond in the applicability of this exceptional biotechnological material in such a promising area.