Seite - 245 - in Freshwater Microplastics - Emerging Environmental Contaminants?

are proposed. Thereby,“[t]he circular economy is gaining growing attention as a potential way for our society to increase prosperity, while reducing demands on finite rawmaterials and minimizing negative externalities” [12, p. 3]. The three main efforts of theNewPlasticEconomyare to: 1. Create aneffective after-useplastics economyby improving the economics anduptake of recycling, reuse and controlled biodegradation for targeted applications. This is the cornerstoneof theNewPlasticsEconomyand itsfirstpriority, andhelps realize the two following ambitions. 2. Drastically reduce leakageofplastics intonatural systems (inparticular theocean) and other negative externalities. 3. Decouple plastics from fossil feedstocks by – in addition to reducing cycle losses and dematerializing– exploring andadopting renewably sourced feedstocks. [12, p. 16] WorldBank TheWorld Bank’s Urban Development and Resilience Unit of the Sustainable DevelopmentNetworkproduces theUrbanDevelopmentSeriesKnowledgePapers todiscuss thechallengesofurbanization.Withinthisseries,aglobalreviewofsolid waste management is given by Hoornweg and Bhanda-Tata [13]. This review comprises globalmanagement practices, generation, collection, composition, and disposal of waste and compares these across different regions of the world. Fur- thermore, they did not only estimate global amounts and trends but also make projections on waste generation and composition for the near future in order for decision-makers toprepareaccordingly.Further, theydescribepracticalapproaches andarangeofpolicyoptionsforgovernments thatcouldbeappliedinmostcities to encouragewastemanagementpractices thatwill reducegreenhousegasemissions. Theynote that“Poorlymanagedwastehasanenormous impactonhealth, localand global environment, and economy; improperly managed waste usually results in down-stream costs higher than what it would have cost to manage the waste properly in thefirst place” [13, p. 11]. In2015, theWorldBankestablishedaPollutionManagementandEnvironmen- tal Health (PMEH) program that covers technical assistance and financing for reducing pollution and improving health for all. Three strategic objectives were formulated to progress toward this goal: • Helpselectedcountries tosignificantly reduceair, land,andmarinepollution levelsand thereby improve environmental health outcomes • Generate new knowledge and improve our understanding of pollution and its health impacts in urban, rural, andmarine areas • Promote increased awareness of environmental health and pollution issues among policy makers, planners, and other relevant stakeholders in low- andmiddle-income countries (LMICs) through dissemination of scientific evidence in this area, including but not limited to content generated through this program. [14, p. 6] One component of the PMEHprogram activities dealingwith integrated solid waste management to reduce land-based pollution in marine environments does clearly refer to plastic litter. It addresses issues such as upstream control of solid wastegeneration toprevent and reducedownstreamimpacts, focusingon reducing the inflowofplastic litter intomarine environments. FreshwaterMicroplastics:Challenges forRegulation andManagement 245