Recently, a concept paper by Jannike Falk-Andersson, Marthe Larsen Haarr and myself was published on Science of The Total Environment. In this paper, we discuss the cost-benefit ratio of marine litter clean-ups, i.e. the consideration of the clean-up efficiency as well as the potential for negative externalities that implementation of clean-up activities may have. These principles, catch per unit effort and the impact on non-target species, are well known from fisheries management. Perhaps it is time to apply these principles when developing marine litter clean-up schemes, too? [Les mer »]

A few weeks ago, my colleague Brita Staal and I wrote a comment about the Norwegian packaging organization’s roadmap towards a circular plastics economy, published in Teknisk Ukeblad. In this comment, translated to English below, we called for more ambitious strategy that takes us from a linear plastics economy to a circular one within the next decade, not within 2050, as suggested by the roadmap. The comment focuses only on the roadmap, but the concepts can be applied more widely; we call for more focus on extending producer responsibility, standardizing of plastic materials for more efficient recycling and centralizing recycling efforts. I.e. the responsibility of the creation of a circular plastics economy must be moved from the consumer to the plastic producers, buyers and recyclers. [Les mer »]