Marine plastic pollution: research

2. Research Approach

Research Approach

The project used interviews and workshops with businesses and stakeholders to develop flow charts of marine plastic pollution appended with detail on key decision points, groups involved, pressures faced and potential solutions to the marine plastic leakages across the different product supply chains. Reasons for the pollution in each case were explored and mitigation options were discussed.

The research focused on a handful of problem products, chosen based on potential opportunities to influence in Scotland and an assessment of impact in terms of contribution to the marine plastic problem. The products were:

• commercial fishing gear
• artificial grass pitch
• menstrual products
• crisps, snack and sweet wrappers.

The project reports consists of a summary document, a literature review and individual reports on commercial fishing gear, artificial grass pitch, menstrual products and crisps, snack and sweet wrappers. These documents are available in the Supporting documents.