Page - 252 - in Freshwater Microplastics - Emerging Environmental Contaminants?

2.3 National-Level Instruments Many national regulations support reducing the amount of (micro)plastic litter in freshwater systems. A selection of these is briefly presented in this section that neitherclaims tobecompletenor tobeanassessment.Mostof theregulation-based activities aimat reduction actions preventing the environmental plastic pollution. In the case of preventing littering, there are several regulatory instruments conceivable, for example, the prohibition (of any kind) of littering byprosecuting when disposing litter. Therefore, often a kind of penalty system is established. A non-exclusive list of countries, which have adopted littering acts, is provided in Table 1.As an example, theUK littering act is describedbelow inmore detail. In contrast to penalty systems, incentive schemes could be created to encourage a proper return of, e.g., packagingwaste. Table 1 Non-exclusive list of littering acts Country Title Australia: •AustralianCapitalTerritory LitterRegulations 1993 •NewSouthWales Protectionof theEnvironmentOperationsAct 1997 •NorthernTerritory LitterAct 1972 •SouthAustralia ContainerDeposit Legislation1977a •Tasmania LitterAct 2007 •Queensland Environmental ProtectionAct 1994 •Victoria LitterAct 1987 •WesternAustralia LitterAct 1979 UnitedStatesofAmerica(USA): •Georgiab ComprehensiveLitter Prevention andAbatementAct 2006 • Idahob ComprehensiveLitter Prevention andAbatementAct 2006 • Illinoisb LitterControlAct 1974 Ireland Litter PollutionAct 1997 Jamaica TheLitterAct 1986 Malta LitterAct 1968 NewZealand LitterAct 1979 Canada, Saskatchewan TheLitterControlAct 2015 Scotland Environmental ProtectionAct 1990 CodeofPractice onLitter andRefuse (Scotland) 2006 (COPLAR) SouthAfrica WhitePaperonIntegratedPollutionandWasteManagement forSouthAfrica 2000 Trinidad andTobago LitterAct 1973 UnitedKingdom(UK) Environmental ProtectionAct (EPA)1990 CleanNeighbourhoods andEnvironmentAct (CNEA)2005 Most of the acts havebeen amended since they took effect aAimof reducing litter by encouraging recycling bhttp://www.litterbutt.com/stop-litter/litter-laws-by-state.aspxprovides a list ofUS litter laws 252 N.Brennholt et al.