Undergraduate Research: An Archive - 2021 Program
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Emily Reinhold ’21<br />
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL<br />
AFFAIRS<br />
Certificate in Environmental Studies<br />
THESIS TITLE<br />
Perpetual Plastics No<br />
More: Large-Scale<br />
Plastic-Waste<br />
Mitigation in a Circular<br />
Economy<br />
ADVISER<br />
Elke Weber, Gerhard R.<br />
<strong>An</strong>dlinger Professor in<br />
Energy and the<br />
Environment, Professor<br />
of Psychology and the<br />
School of Public and<br />
International Affairs<br />
My thesis explored policy solutions to mitigating<br />
single-use plastic waste within the transition to<br />
a circular economy. After outlining the extent<br />
of global plastic waste and its negative impacts,<br />
I described the shortcomings of United States<br />
policy related to plastics. Afterward, my thesis<br />
explored policy solutions to plastic waste that<br />
have been implemented by other countries.<br />
These measures include taxes on single-use<br />
plastics bags, bans on single-use plastics,<br />
extended producer responsibility in managing<br />
the end stages of single-use plastics, limits on the<br />
export of plastic waste to developing countries,<br />
and more. Lessons from these policies for the<br />
United States are explained in detail. Lastly,<br />
I investigated the potential for expanding<br />
alternative sustainable plastics to a commercial<br />
and industrial scale. I provided examples of<br />
existing compostable and biodegradable plastics,<br />
explained their value to the circular economy,<br />
and discussed the importance of also scaling up<br />
proper methods of disposal, such as industrial<br />
composting.<br />
POLICY, NORMS<br />
AND BEHAVIOR<br />
44
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