Exploring Scientific Discourse on Marine Litter in Europe: Review of Sources, Causes and Solutions

Vilma Havas, Søren Løkke and Lone Kørnøv
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Vilma Havas: SALT Lofoten A/S, Havneterminalen, Fiskergata 23, 8301 Svolvær, Norway
Søren Løkke: The Danish Center for Environmental Assessment, Department of Planning, Aalborg University, Rendsburggade 14, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark
Lone Kørnøv: The Danish Center for Environmental Assessment, Department of Planning, Aalborg University, Rendsburggade 14, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-22

Abstract: Marine litter is a transboundary environmental issue that affects all the world’s oceans. Marine litter research is a young discipline but one that has exploded during the last five years. However, the increased knowledge of sources and underlying causes to marine litter, as well as knowledge regarding solutions, lack systematic review and synthesis. This study reviews the scientific discourses around plastic marine litter in Europe, and more specifically, in Norway and Denmark, and explores emerging discourse coalitions. Four main thematic storylines on the source-cause-solution causal relationship, as well as two emerging storylines within marine litter research, are found. This study concludes that in order to secure sustainability of solutions and to avoid risk transformation and greenwashing, more interdisciplinary research, including life cycle assessment and investigations of scientific and societal discourses, is needed.

Keywords: marine litter; scientific discourse; sources; causes; solutions; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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