Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Re-framing plastics pollution to include social, ecological and policy perspectives

Plastic pollution is widely presented as a waste problem, resulting in proposed solutions that target end-of-life waste management and consumer behaviour. This framing misrepresents the entangled global social and ecological challenges of the plastic crisis, which must be recognised for effective, equitable and sustainable responses.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Mah, A. Plastic Unlimited: How Corporations Are Fuelling the Ecological Crisis and What We Can Do About It (John Wiley & Sons, 2022).

  2. Persson, L. et al. Outside the safe operating space of the planetary boundary for novel entities. Environ. Sci. Technol. 56, 1510–1521 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Rockström, J. et al. Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity. E&S 14, art32 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Villarrubia-Gómez, P., Cornell, S. E. & Fabres, J. Marine plastic pollution as a planetary boundary threat–The drifting piece in the sustainability puzzle. Marine Policy 96, 213–220 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Liboiron, M. Pollution Is Colonialism. Pollution Is Colonialism (Duke University Press, 2021).

  6. Schnurr, R. E. J. et al. Reducing marine pollution from single-use plastics (SUPs): A review. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 137, 157–171 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. OECD. Global Plastics Outlook: Policy Scenarios to 2060 (OECD, 2022).

  8. Stemming the Tide Statement of Accountability (Ocean Conservancy, 2022); https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/take-deep-dive/stemming-the-tide/

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Villarrubia-Gómez, P., Carney Almroth, B. & Cornell, S.E. Re-framing plastics pollution to include social, ecological and policy perspectives. Nat Rev Earth Environ 3, 724–725 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00359-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00359-9

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Anthropocene