Abstract
Few other environmental problems have received as much public attention and criticism in recent years as plastic pollution. Accordingly, in recent years, a number of plastic policies have been adopted at the national and supranational level in the EU and worldwide. In the U.S., health risks were repeatedly raised in the decision-making process of these policies and scholars have pointed out the crucial role of these arguments for the adoption of plastic policies. Hence, this article uses a structuring qualitative content analysis to investigate the parliamentary debates of two recently adopted plastic policies in the EU—namely the EU Plastics Strategy and the Single-Use Plastics Directive—and to assess the relevance of public health and environmental arguments for the EU debate. The analysis reveals broad support for plastics regulation among Members of the European Parliament, who most often use environmental arguments to corroborate their support for the policies in question. In contrast, health concerns do not seem to be crucial for the adoption of plastic policies in the EU.
Highlights
IntroductionDespite many open questions that researchers continue to pursue, it is not too early for political responses against plastic pollution [15,16], in particular because human health risks and environmental harm are not the only factors in favor of adopting plastic policies (see further below)
Plastics are subject to fierce criticism by the public
In our Hypothesis 1, we assumed that health concerns and environmental concerns would be central arguments in support of plastics regulation and were of similar importance in the European debate on plastics regulation
Summary
Despite many open questions that researchers continue to pursue, it is not too early for political responses against plastic pollution [15,16], in particular because human health risks and environmental harm are not the only factors in favor of adopting plastic policies (see further below). In recent years, a number of plastic policies have been adopted at the national and supranational level in the EU and worldwide These policies include regulatory approaches controlling production and sales of plastic bags, single-use plastic items and microbeads [17,18,19,20,21], circular economy and waste policies (including recycling and recyclates) [22,23], import bans for plastic waste [24], as well as legislation focusing on sea-based sources of (marine) plastic pollution [21,25]
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