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Plastics and the Environment—Current Status and Challenges in Germany and Australia
Author(s) -
Wurm Frederik R.,
Spierling Sebastian,
Endres HansJosef,
Barner Leonie
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.202000351
Subject(s) - plastic pollution , pollution , environmental planning , consumption (sociology) , plastic waste , natural resource economics , business , environmental protection , environmental science , environmental resource management , waste management , engineering , ecology , economics , social science , sociology , biology
Abstract Polymers and plastics play a very important part in the modern world and contribute to people's wellbeing and comfort. However, products made of them are contributing to land‐ and marine‐based environmental pollution due to littering and other ways of emission, and therefore threaten ecosystems worldwide. However, waste management and responses by governments and the consumer differ strongly from country to country. The current article provides an overview of several important aspects of polymer waste and plastic pollution as well as describes selected strategies to mitigate these using examples from Germany and Australia, and therefore aims to contribute to the resolution of the ever‐increasing problem of unsustainable plastic consumption, disposal, and pollution.