Page - 261 - in Freshwater Microplastics - Emerging Environmental Contaminants?

materials or toMPs in general. To give an example, food packaging should not containanypolymersorpolymer-additivecombinations that couldposeanyrisk to human health by leaching into food products. The same polymer-additive combi- nation might be less harmful in products without direct contact to food and environment.Hence, limitations can be restricted to certain fields of application – provided that properwastemanagement ensures competent disposal or recycling. In contrast to the above given example, theMicrobead-FreeWaters Act 2015 [49] applies not solely to selected materials but bans MPs in general from an application in personal care products (for details, see Sect. 2.3). In rinse-off cosmetic products, where MPs could easily be replaced with natural materials that have similar functions, an entry ofMPs into the environment is consciously accepted.“Hard”measures, suchasbansand limitations,canpotentiallybeapplied toplastic applications that are either not needed for the functionof aproduct ordo notbenefit theuserorcaneasilybereplacedbyothermaterials. Incontrast,“softer” instruments need tobe applied in areas inwhich theuse of plastics is indisputable (e.g.,medical devices). Regulatory instruments to reduce the emission ofMP into the aquatic environ- mentneednotnecessarilyaffectproductionorapplicationbutcanalsoberelated to an improvement of themanagement ofwastewater and solidwaste.Requirements on improved technical standards can be implemented on different levels in a product life cycle. Startingwith product design, the range of possibilities includes degradable polymers, polymers with high recycling quotas, or a product design promotinga longandcircularproduct life to reducewaste (see [32]).At theendof product life, enhanced recycling systems can prolong the service time of raw materials toavoiddisposal.Anyemissionofunavoidablewaste to theenvironment needs to be reduced by further regulations. This might be achieved by technical innovations (“CaC”) or by a stricter product responsibility from the producer side (“liability”). Economicmeasures to achieve environmental goals arewell known fromother fields. They range from imposing financial burden (e.g., taxation) to flexible systemswith tradable permits (e.g., CO2 emission trading) and to financial incen- tives for increasing recycling rates, to name just a few.With regard to the latter, recycling rates forplasticbottlesandfurthercontainers forwater, softdrinks,milk, etc. increased considerably since the introduction of a container deposit system in several European countries. Deposit systems would be transferable to further plastic-basedproducts (e.g., packaging, carrier bags, etc.) Oneof themost sustainablemeasureswouldbeasocialchange,with regard toa transformation froma societywith linear resource use toward a recycling society, valuing plastics as a precious resource. To achieve such long-term objectives, policy can apply so-called persuasive instruments such as public information, environmental education, and funding of research and development. Compared to the instruments on the left sideofFig. 2, thesemeasures are softer, and effects are lessdirect.Nevertheless, theymight lead to long-lasting input reductionofplastics, MPs, and even further pollutants into the environment. FreshwaterMicroplastics:Challenges forRegulation andManagement 261