Governance Strategies for Mitigating Microplastic Pollution in the Marine Environment: A Review

Abstract

Threats emerging from microplastic pollution in the marine environment have received much global attention. This review assessed sources, fate, and impacts of microplastics in marine ecosystems and identified gaps. Most studies document the ubiquity of microplastics and associated environmental effects. Effects include impacts to marine ecosystems, risks to biodiversity, and threats to human health. Microplastic leakage into marine ecosystems arises from plastic waste mismanagement and a lack of effective mitigative strategies. This review identified a scarcity of microplastics’ mitigation strategies from different stakeholders. Lack of community involvement in microplastic monitoring or ecosystem conservation exists due to limited existence of citizen science and stakeholder co-management initiatives. Although some management strategies exist for controlling effects of microplastics (often implemented by local and global environmental groups), a standardized management strategy to mitigate microplastics in coastal areas is urgently required. There is a need to review policy interventions aimed at plastic reduction in or near coastal ecosystems and evaluate their effectiveness. There is also a need to identify focal causes of microplastic pollution in the marine environment through further environmental research and governance approaches. These would extend to creating more effective policies as well as harmonized and extended efforts of educational campaigns and incentives for plastic waste reduction while mandating stringent penalties to help reduce microplastic leakage into the marine environment.

Investigation of Global Trends of Pollutants in Marine Ecosystems around Barrang Caddi Island, Spermonde Archipelago Cluster: An Ecological Approach

“…Based on the functional groups, the type of MP can be predicted. Seven types of MP pollutants may be present in a sample, among which the most common are polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, and polycarbonate [69,70].…”

“…The analysis of the MP pollutants was completed with an FTIR chromatogram and was based on the unique monomer structures of functional groups in each type of MP. Seven types of MP are commonly found in marine ecosystems [18,70]. Their respective monomers are as follows: polypropylene (PP) with the molecular formula (C 3 H 6 )n; polyethylene (PE), a monomer of ethylene (C 2 H 4 )n; polystyrene (PS) (C 8 H 8 )n; polycarbonate (PC), which has a carbonyl functional group (O-(C=O)-O)n; polyamide-nylon (PA), with the monomer formula NH 2 (CH 2 ) 6 .NHCO(CH 2 ) 4 COOH; polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with unique components, such as chloride (C 2 H 3 Cl)n; and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), which is composed of three monomers with the formula (C 8 H 8 )x(C 4 H 6 )y(C 3 H 3 N)z [18,19,26,27,38,64].…”

The Burden of Microplastics Pollution and Contending Policies and Regulations

“…These legislations require further strengthening and review to address all forms of plastics. A review of governance strategies of controlling MPs in marine ecosystems found a lack of community involvement in monitoring and conservation, largely attributed to the absence of citizen science and co-management initiatives by key players; in addition, no standardized management strategy has been put in place [ 55 ]. The legislations heavily relied on bans, the imposition of levies, and campaigns by volunteers to ensure the reduction and reuse of plastics [ 56 ].…”

Investigation Pollutants of Global Trends in Marine Ecosystems around Barrang Caddi Island, Spermonde Archipelago Cluster: An Ecological Approach

“…Based on the functional groups that seem predictable, the type of MP. Seven types of MP pollutants may be present in the sample, among which the most common are polypropylene, polyethene, polystyrene, and polycarbonate [69,70].…”