Page - 273 - in Freshwater Microplastics - Emerging Environmental Contaminants?

Microplastic:WhatAre theSolutions? MarcusEriksen,MartinThiel,MattPrindiville, andTimKiessling Abstract The plastic that pollutes ourwaterways and the ocean gyres is a symp- tomofupstreammaterialmismanagement, resulting in its ubiquity throughout the biosphere in both aquatic and terrestrial environments.While environmental con- taminationiswidespread, thereareseveral reasonable interventionpointspresentas thematerial flows through society and the environment, from initial production to deep-sea microplastic sedimentation. Plastic passes through the hands of many stakeholders, with responsibility for environmental contamination owned, shared, or rejected by plastic producers, product/packaging manufacturers, government, consumers, andwaste handlers. Thecontemporarydebateabout solutions, inabroadsense, largelycontrasts the circular economywith the current linear economicmodel.While there is a wide agreement that improvedwasterecoveryisessential,howthatwasteismanagedisa different story. The subjective positions of stakeholders illuminate their economic philosophy, whether it is to maintain demand for new plastic by incinerating M.Eriksen (*) 5Gyres Institute, LosAngeles,CA,USA e-mail:marcuseriksen@gmail.com M.Thiel FacultadCiencias delMar,UniversidadCato´lica delNorte, Larrondo1281,Coquimbo,Chile MillenniumNucleusEcology andSustainableManagement ofOceanic Island (ESMOI), Coquimbo,Chile Centro deEstudiosAvanzados enZonas A´ridas (CEAZA),Coquimbo,Chile e-mail: thiel@ucn.cl M.Prindiville UpstreamPolicyProject,Damariscotta,ME,USA T.Kiessling FacultadCiencias delMar,UniversidadCato´lica delNorte, Larrondo1281,Coquimbo,Chile M.Wagner, S.Lambert (eds.),FreshwaterMicroplastics, HdbEnvChem58,DOI10.1007/978-3-319-61615-5_13, ©TheAuthor(s) 2018 273