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global assessments have been made on the plastic losses related to waste treatment (Jambeck et al., 2015) and on microplastics across the entire plastic value chain (Boucher and Friot, 2017). Studies on the transport of plastics from rivers to oceans have also been conducted (Cable et al., 2017; Lebreton et al., 2017; Schmidt et al., 2017). These assessments have contributed to a better understanding of the amounts of plastics released to oceans and which stages in the plastic value chain that contributes to the largest releases of plastics to the oceans. 1.1.Objective The primary objective of this study is to provide a global mapping of the plastic value chain and quantify the global losses of plastic across the value chain to the environment using 2015 as reference year. The mapping will draw on and combine information from previous assessments on plastic losses which are either restricted to national scale or only focus on specific subsets of the total value chain and associated losses (i.e. waste management and primary microplastics). However, this study will go one step further in providing a comprehensive mapping of global scale losses of both macro- and microplastics across the plastic value chain. The estimates of losses to the environment were conducted as an iterative process where initial estimates were made to get an idea of the magnitude of the losses from different activities in the plastic value chain. The most important losses were, hereafter, re-visited and additional information was collected to obtain a more solid estimate of the plastic losses. Moreover, the findings on plastic releases to the environment will be complemented with a qualitative assessment of the types of plastic found in the oceans and the impacts of micro- and macroplastics on marine organism to identify the most important stages of the plastic value chain where losses occur and to identify the most critical plastic types lost from Mapping of global plastics value chain and plastics losses to the environment With a particular focus on marine environment the value chain. The findings of the study are used to provide recommendations aimed at decision-makers in governments and industry on where to place focus and possible measures for reducing effects of plastics on the marine environment. 1.2.General methodology The study consist of two primary steps with regards to quantifying the global losses of plastic across the value chain to the environment and identifying the most important stages of the plastic value chain in terms of potential impact on the marine environment. First, a top-down approach for estimating global losses of plastic to the environment across the plastics value chain. Second, comparison of the estimated losses with studies reporting findings of micro- and macroplastic in the oceans was made. Finally, an identification of the most problematic micro- and macroplastics, in terms of potential impact on marine environment, was conducted based on scientific literature. | Top-down approach for estimating losses of micro- and macroplastics The top-down approach was used for estimating the losses of micro- and macroplastics along the plastics value chain. Here, information on global plastics production and usage, differentiated on plastic types, were combined with information on regional plastic consumption to derive a global regionally differentiated indication of plastic production, use, and end-of-life. The was primarily derived based on Geyer et al. (2017) but coupled with more specific data on processes and plastic types that were deemed important in relation to marine plastics (see Chapter 3 and Chapter 4). Based on the global estimate of plastic production, use, and end-of-life, information from the previous studies on losses of plastics (i.e., Boucher and Friot, 1 Introduction | 19PDF Image | Mapping of global plastics value chain
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