The Wicked Problem of Plastics and the Discourse Surrounding its Governance

这个研究网络将着眼于关于固体废物塑料材料污染问题的话语--特别是那些使用寿命较短的材料--以及这些叙述如何转化为监管、其他治理举措和自愿方法--换句话说，行动。它将考察有关塑料垃圾的故事是如何讲述的，以及它如何导致政策和监管。尽管人们普遍呼吁“无塑料”的未来，但没有塑料的世界是不可想象的。挑战是以一种不允许废物逃逸到环境中的方式来处理废塑料的逃逸，而是加强塑料的循环经济--这是一个闭环系统，在这个闭环系统中，使用寿命结束的塑料物品成为一种资源，从而将废塑料减少到尽可能接近零的水平。塑料的使用在过去五六十年里变得流行起来，现在给世界带来了一个只能被描述为“邪恶问题”的问题--一个结合了技术和社会复杂性的问题，传统的解决方案不起作用，任何单一学科都无法解决。以湿纸巾问题为例，93%的污水堵塞是由湿纸巾引起的。一个简单的监管解决方案是禁止它们，就像英国最近禁止在化妆品中使用微塑料珠子一样。但这将失去一种有价值和有用的商品，正如一些非洲和其他发展中国家已经实施的塑料袋禁令所表明的那样。在监管制裁和消费者行为变化的推动下，寻求一种结合了技术解决方案的多学科解决方案，例如使用具有当前湿巾所有特性的不同材料，可以实现既具有环境优势又具有社会效益的长期结果。只有通过真正的多学科方法，才能找到‘零’塑料垃圾的解决方案。事实是，对于一次性塑料的问题以及它们对环境的影响，如BBC系列节目《蓝色星球2》中所展示的那样，一些反应是禁止塑料，取而代之的是其他材料，这些材料一旦使用也可能被丢弃，从长远来看可能对环境同样有害。那么，为什么一些国家寻求的解决方案没有抓住问题的核心呢？这种被动的做法的危险是，将我们的消费和生产模式造成的问题转移到下游，同时认为环境中的浪费问题已经得到解决。禁止列入发改委名单的国家进口某些塑料废物可能会在过渡时期控制问题，但不会在未来解决问题。然而，与此同时，媒体上的这种形象提升了公众的意识，因为它提高了政策制定者和立法者对找到解决方案的必要性的关注。它的问题是，它可能会导致这些监管机构采取快速而简单的步骤，似乎是为了解决这个邪恶的问题。因此，这个项目旨在调查有关塑料污染的信息是如何在世界各地传递的，特别是在DAC名单上的国家，这些国家从高消费国家进口塑料废物产生了特殊问题，以及如何将其转化为监管和治理行动，以便吸取教训，如何有效地处理塑料废物等有害问题。该网络将分享关于塑料废物信息开发和传递方式的分析知识和经验，以促进这一邪恶问题的长期解决。

This research network will look at the discourses about the problem of pollution from solid waste plastic materials - especially those with a short service life - and how these narratives translate into regulation, other governance initiatives and voluntary approaches - in other words, action. It will look at the way in which the story about plastics waste is told and how that leads to policy and regulation. Despite the popular call towards a 'no-plastics' future, a world without plastics is unimaginable. The challenge is to deal with the escape of waste plastics in a way which does not allow waste to escape into the environment but enhances a circular economy in plastics - a closed-loop system where end-of-service-life plastic objects become a resource and thus reduce waste plastics to as near zero as possible. The use of plastics since their rise in popularity over the past 50-60 years has now presented the world with what can only be described as a 'Wicked Problem' - a problem combining technical and social complexity where traditional solutions do not work and which are not solvable by any single discipline. Take, for example, the problem of wet wipes which are the cause of 93% of sewage blockages. A simple regulatory solution would be to ban them as in the recent UK ban on micro-plastic beads in cosmetics. But this would lose a valuable and useful commodity as shown by the example of bans on plastic bags which have been implemented in a number of African and other developing countries. Seeking a multidisciplinary solution which combines technical solutions, such as using a different material with all the properties of current wet wipes, driven by regulatory sanctions and changes in consumer behaviour can achieve a long-lasting result which has environmental advantages as well as societal gains. It is only through a truly multidisciplinary approach that a 'zero' plastic waste solution can be approached. It is the case that some reactions to the problem of single-use plastics and the way they affect the environment as graphically displayed, for example, in the BBC series, Blue Planet II, have been to ban plastics and to replace them by other materials which may also be abandoned once used and may be just as harmful to the environment in the long term. So why are some countries seeking solutions which miss the heart of the problem? The danger from such a reactive approach is to transfer the problems caused by our consumption and production patterns down the line while thinking that the problem of waste in the environment has been solved. Bans on the importation of certain plastics waste by DAC-listed countries may control the problem in the interim but not solve it for the future. Yet, at the same time, the public awareness escalated by such imagery on the media is good in that it raises the attention of policymakers and legislators to the need to find solutions. What is a problem about it is that it may cause such groups of regulators to take quick and easy steps which appear to solve this wicked problem. So this project intends to investigate the way in which the message about plastics pollution is being delivered around the world, especially in DAC-listed countries where particular problems arise from importation of plastics waste from high consuming countries, and how that translates into regulatory and governance action so that lessons can be learned as to how to deal effectively with such wicked problems as plastics waste. The network will share knowledge and experiences on the analysis of the way in which the message about plastics waste is developed and delivered so as to contribute to the long-term solution of this wicked problem.