A Systems-Thinking Approach to Finding Solutions for Fishing Plastic Waste in Indonesia

塑料因其有益的特性和应用在现代社会中根深蒂固。然而，塑料的主要问题是浪费速度快，加上缺乏适当的废物管理系统。这导致塑料成为我们环境中无处不在的污染物，每年有数百万吨塑料泄漏到海洋和沿海环境中。该项目调查印度尼西亚小规模捕捞活动造成的海洋塑料污染的影响，特别是东努沙登加拉省。小规模渔业根深蒂固地植根于国家的生活方式；因此，它们可以成为塑料污染的无限来源，或者同样地，如果引入更可持续的做法，它们可以成为高度减少塑料污染的途径。当试图改善产品或实践的可持续性时，多学科方法是必要的，以做出满足环境和更广泛社会需求的知情决定。该项目将采用复杂的资源回收价值优化(CVORR)方法来分析整个系统，并评估塑料和替代使用做法的可持续性影响。CVORR方法认识到，孤立的思维提供的短期解决方案可能会在系统的其他地方造成问题，并使知识碎片化。

Plastic is entrenched in modern day society due to its beneficial characteristics and applications. However, the major issue with plastic is the rapid rate of wastage coupled with the lack of an adequate waste management system. This has led to plastics becoming a ubiquitous pollutant in our environment, with millions of tonnes of plastics leaking into marine and coastal environments annually. This project investigates the impacts of marine plastic pollution resulting from the small-scale fishing activities in Indonesia, specifically focusing on the East Nusa Tenggara province. Small-scale fisheries are engrained in the nation's way of life; thus, they can serve as an indefinite source of plastic pollution, or equally, an avenue for high plastic pollution reductions if more sustainable practices are introduced. When trying to improve the sustainability of products or practices, a multi-disciplinary approach is necessary to come to an informed decision that satisfies environmental and wider societal needs. The project will employ the complex value optimisation for resource recovery (CVORR) approach to analyse the entire system and assess the sustainability impacts of plastics and alternative use practices. The CVORR approach recognises that siloed thinking delivers short-term solutions that can create problems elsewhere in the system and fragment knowledge.