SOAPP INITIATIVE

Safeguarding Oceans Against Plastic Pollution

W alker Ramirez, Stanford University

Introduction

Regulation

Preventing plastic from entering the ocean in the first place is the most effective way to eliminate marine
plastic pollution. Policy makers can implement a wide range of command-and-control regulation and
economic incentives to achieve this, such as

Our oceans collectively contain over

5 trillion tons of plastic debris that
weigh over 150 million tons. By
2050, there will be more plastic in
the ocean than fish, by mass.
Marine plastic debris threatens all
levels of marine life through
suffocation, ingestion and
entanglement and by consequence
the fishing industry that supplies
over 1 billion people with their
primary source of protein.

- US ban on microbeads (plastic spheres that easily leak from collection centers)
- Plastic bag taxes in Ireland and South Africa
- Deposit Refund Systems on plastic containers in California and other U.S. states
SOAPP will advocate for regulation at a national level by disseminating information and mobilizing public
opinion through media, providing expert advice, networking and implementing boomerang diplomacy to
exert diplomatic pressures in countries with limited civil society.

The SOAPP (Safeguarding Oceans Against Plastic Pollution) Initiative will eliminate marine plastic
pollution through comprehensive regulation, the development of a circular plastics economy and the
transition to non-petroleum, biodegradable plastics to ensure long-term ocean sustainability.

Circular Economy

Stemming the tide of plastics pollution requires the creation of a circular plastics economy where the
plastics life cycle eschews from landfills and oceans. The principle challenge to achieving this circular
economy is preventing plastics from leaking out of collection centers and ending up in the ocean . The
initiative will approach this challenge through the three phases outlined below.
Figure1: Regulation toreducelightweight (lessthan 30 micrometersthick) plasticbags

Wast e Management
Inf r ast r uct ur e

Remov ing Pl ast ic f r om t he

Ocean

Educat ional Out r each

- Empower consumers to
- SOAPP will provide consulting - Achieving a circular plastics
take small steps? drinking
and financing to implement
economy will provide
from reusable bottles,
sustainable integrated solid
considerable economic
avoiding straws,using
waste management (ISW M)
incentive to sequester plastics
reusable shopping bags and
systems at the local level in the
from the ocean and recycle it
packing lunches in wax
developing countries.
into usable products.
paper? to reduce their
- Investment in ISW M
- The Ocean Cleanup device acts
plastic consumption.
infrastructure is often less
as an artificial coastline that
- Put pressure on businesses
expensive in the long run given
passively gathers plastics at a
and government to make
the high environmental, health
rate that would clear half of the
solving marine plastic
and economic costs of
Pacific Garbage Patch in 10
pollution a priority.
mismanaged waste
years.

By 2050, plastic production will account for

20%of fossil fuel use (Figure 4). Thus, the
long-term goal of SOAPP is to facilaitate the
transition to non-petroleum based,
biodegradable plastics, such as:
- Casein-Silicate Clay: a compound with
properties similar to polystyrene, but
with the ability to degrade in a dump-like
environment
- Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA):
bioplastics that are produced by
methanotrophs under nutrient-limiting
conditions. The process sequesters
methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into a
valuable product.

5
Figure2: Developing a circular economy will transform theplasticproduct lifecyclesothey arenever considered waste(Source:
TheNew PlasticsEconomy).

Plastic Alternatives

Figure3: Fossil fuel useand marineplasticpollution levelsif

plasticproduction continuesbusinessasusual (Source: TheNew
PlasticsEconomy).

Projected Impact

The SOAPP Initiative is the only comprehensive solution to reverse the effects of marine plastic
pollution in order to reach preferred state of humanity having a net-positive impact on the oceans.
SOAPP will achieve this state by preventing any further plastic from entering the ocean, removing
the estimated 150 million tons already in the ocean, and leading the transition to non-petroleum
biodegradable plastics. The initiative will have far-reaching economic and environmental benefits:
injecting 10 billion dollars --the amount lost annually in the fishing, tourism, and shipping industry
due to marine plastic pollution--into the economy and saving the lives of the countless marine
animals that are killed or injured every year due to plastics in the ocean.