1887

OECD Environment Working Papers

This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected studies on environmental issues prepared for use within the OECD. Authorship is usually collective, but principal authors are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language English or French with a summary in the other if available.

English

The cost of preventing ocean plastic pollution

This paper provides estimates of the cost of preventing land-based plastic leakage into the ocean, covering 38 OECD member countries and 10 selected major plastic waste emitters in Asia and Africa. The study estimates capital costs at EUR 54 billion in the Moderate Ambition scenario and EUR 74 billion in the High Ambition scenario. The annualised per-capita costs range between EUR 0.2 to 6.5 in the Moderate Ambition scenario and from EUR 0.8 to 6.5 in the High Ambition scenario. These cost estimates are much lower than UNEP and ISWA estimates of the cost of inaction of inadequate waste management, roughly USD 9 to 45 per capita. Differences in estimated costs are found to depend on countries’ waste policy stringency and waste management infrastructure. This paper contributes to OECD work in support of a sustainable ocean economy and the Global Plastics Outlook report.

English

Keywords: marine litter, product stewardship, circular economy, extended producer responsibility, plastic, sustainable consumption, leakage, resource efficiency, waste management
JEL: Q53: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Environmental Economics / Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling; Q52: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Environmental Economics / Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects; Q51: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics / Environmental Economics / Valuation of Environmental Effects; H23: Public Economics / Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue / Taxation and Subsidies: Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
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