Is the totality of plastic accumulation in the environment. It is associated with ecological impacts and emissions from plastic production, consumption, leakages from littering practices and inefficiencies in waste management infrastructure, and impacts related to recycling and other waste treatment processes ( Nielsen et al., 2020 ).
Published in Chapter:
Sources and Pathways of Marine Litter: A Global Assessment of Plastic Pollution in Coastal and Island Regions
Carol Maione (Politecnico di Milano, Italy) and Gabriela Fernandez (San Diego State University, USA)
Copyright: © 2022
|Pages: 27
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-9723-1.ch001
Abstract
Plastic pollution is a global transboundary threat to the planet's marine resources. Tracking pollution is crucial to implement effective marine management strategies on coastal and island regions, where mismanaged plastics are most at risk of entering the ocean. However, the uncertainty of sources and pathways of marine litter poses a major challenge to the assessment of marine pollution. This chapter reviews the principal sectors and human activities contributing to plastic pollution, the mechanisms by which plastic enters the ocean, and some possible drivers of marine litter, including the growing role of coastal tourism on small developing islands. It also outlines future directions for meaningfully integrating research, material accounting, and prevention actions to mitigate the infiltration of plastic pollution in the marine environment, via proper monitoring, assessment, and reporting on plastic material flows from source to sink.