Managing Marine Plastic Pollution in Norway

Based on collaborative, interdisciplinary research as part of the Norwegian Shift-Plastics project, this book establishes sustainable circular value chains for managing plastics in the fisheries and aquaculture industries, which are significant causes of ocean plastic pollution.

Focused on reducing plastic production and consumption by examining the entire life cycle and taking upstream measures, the Norwegian case presented in the book highlights globally relevant insights into how to manage the complexity of plastic pollution and the systemic changes needed for a sustainable circular economy.

The book takes a transdisciplinary approach, incorporating academic perspectives and collaborating with industry and public bodies to improve plastic handling in the fisheries and aquaculture industries. It integrates multiple scientific disciplines, including technological science, policy science, economics, environmental science, design thinking, and systems thinking. It also investigates the value chain of plastic use in the fisheries and aquaculture industries to map their management practices and pinpoint issues that can be improved throughout the process. In doing so, it provides practical advice on how to create effective policies in line with a Sustainable Circular Economy (SCE) for both businesses and policymakers. Further, it highlights how plastic production can be reduced through extended usability, ways to apply eco-design principles to create products that can easily be disassembled, repaired, and recycled, and options for using bioplastics and recycled materials. Finally, it presents a roadmap that connects changes in industrial practices, infrastructure needs and policy design in the short, medium and long term to achieve reduced plastic use and plastic pollution in the fisheries and aquaculture industries.

Managing Marine Plastic Pollution in Norway will be an important research reference and tool for academics, students, policymakers, industry and business professionals in pollution and waste management, sustainability, circular economy, and marine, fishery, and environmental management.

Author Biography

Hans Jakob Walnum is the administrative leader of climate and environmental research and a Senior Researcher at the Western Norway Research Institute, Norway. He has been the project leader for the Shift-Plastics project, on which this book is based.

Megan Palmer-Abbs is a Senior Researcher at the Nordland Research Institute, Norway. She has been responsible for facilitating co-production transdisciplinary work in Shift-Plastics to ensure cooperation between academics, public bodies and industry.

Paritosh Chakor Deshpande is an Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway—his research in Material Flow Analysis in both Aquaculture and fisheries has been a crucial part of Shift-Plastics.