Unraveling the Plastic Puzzle: Barriers, Initiatives, & Opportunities for a Low Plastic Transformation
Year: 2020
Type: dissertation
Abstract: From clothing to computers, toothbrushes, automobiles, and everything in between; plastic (synthetic polymers) dominates daily practices. Despite plastic's many useful applications it also harms; clogging waterways, choking wildlife, releasing toxins, and relying on fossil fuels. Hiding in the air, dust, soil, and water; no place on Earth remains immune to plastic's spread. Although the issue of plastic pollution and consumption is now widely known, there is limited guidance on how to approach such an enormous task. Aiming to add to the conversation, surveys conducted from participants in a 30 day plastic-free challenge seek to uncover plastic's hidden interconnections and barriers to going plastic-free. Secondly, qualitative interviews with Oslo-based businesses, researchers, organizations, and municipal employees explore current initiatives aiming to reduce plastic pollution and/or consumption. From there, the patterns of aliveness and three spheres of transformation frameworks provide lenses to reveal plastic's role in contemporary society, and how transformation dynamics create opportunities for future change. Looking at the findings, the three spheres of transformation framework illuminates how existing beliefs, systems, policies, and technologies currently form barriers to reducing plastic. Analyzing these elements and how actions within personal, political, and practical spheres constantly interact, evolve, and shape outcomes within the other spheres, therefore, offers insights into how to target and improve future plastic-related initiatives. Moreover, the patterns of aliveness theory takes an integrated approach emphasizing the importance of diversity, collaboration, creativity, and flexibility to address contemporary challenges. Adopting this kind of more holistic perspective, many current Oslo-based projects are promoting larger change to address plastic consumption and pollution by engaging diverse actors, dialoguing, spreading awareness, innovating, and joining forces to drive change across all three transformation spheres. Overall, this study suggests future actions, whether against plastic or other socio-ecological challenges, can contribute to wider systemic change by taking holistic approaches and collaborating to initiate and carry out complementary efforts. Together, consumers, businesses, civil society organizations, and the government can forward a low plastic transformation. \n*Special thanks to Osloforskning for supporting this research project!
Author: Dana Sharp
Language: English
Subfield: Pollution
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3111750470