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Narrating plastics governance : policy narratives in the European plastics strategy

Palm, Ellen LU orcid ; Hasselbalch, Jacob LU orcid ; Holmberg, Karl LU orcid and Nielsen, Tobias Dan LU (2022) In Environmental Politics 31(3). p.365-385
Abstract

The European Union (EU) aspires to be an important global agenda-setter on how to treat and regulate the growing plastics problem. We present an analysis of the plastic policy narratives shaping European plastics governance, in particular through the European Commission’s Plastics Strategy. Our aim is to first uncover the policy narratives at play, and then examine how actors make use of those narratives through strategic construction. Based on interviews with key stakeholders and document analysis, we identify four narratives: fossil feedstock dependency, resource inefficiency, pollution, and toxicity. We find that the resource inefficiency and pollution narratives figure most prominently in European plastics governance, and that the... (More)

The European Union (EU) aspires to be an important global agenda-setter on how to treat and regulate the growing plastics problem. We present an analysis of the plastic policy narratives shaping European plastics governance, in particular through the European Commission’s Plastics Strategy. Our aim is to first uncover the policy narratives at play, and then examine how actors make use of those narratives through strategic construction. Based on interviews with key stakeholders and document analysis, we identify four narratives: fossil feedstock dependency, resource inefficiency, pollution, and toxicity. We find that the resource inefficiency and pollution narratives figure most prominently in European plastics governance, and that the circular economy is being advanced as a policy solution that cuts across the different narratives. However, surface agreement on the need for ‘circularity’ hides deeper-lying ideological divisions over what exactly the circular economy means and the different directions this implies for plastics governance.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
circular economy, European Commission, narrative policy framework, plastics, Policy narratives, strategic construction
in
Environmental Politics
volume
31
issue
3
pages
365 - 385
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:85105157764
ISSN
0964-4016
DOI
10.1080/09644016.2021.1915020
project
STEPS – Sustainable Plastics and Transition Pathways, Phase 2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
17576d0a-eade-4e90-8db9-4f99513c76c3
date added to LUP
2021-05-31 11:03:28
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:39:31
@article{17576d0a-eade-4e90-8db9-4f99513c76c3,
  abstract     = {{<p>The European Union (EU) aspires to be an important global agenda-setter on how to treat and regulate the growing plastics problem. We present an analysis of the plastic policy narratives shaping European plastics governance, in particular through the European Commission’s Plastics Strategy. Our aim is to first uncover the policy narratives at play, and then examine how actors make use of those narratives through strategic construction. Based on interviews with key stakeholders and document analysis, we identify four narratives: fossil feedstock dependency, resource inefficiency, pollution, and toxicity. We find that the resource inefficiency and pollution narratives figure most prominently in European plastics governance, and that the circular economy is being advanced as a policy solution that cuts across the different narratives. However, surface agreement on the need for ‘circularity’ hides deeper-lying ideological divisions over what exactly the circular economy means and the different directions this implies for plastics governance.</p>}},
  author       = {{Palm, Ellen and Hasselbalch, Jacob and Holmberg, Karl and Nielsen, Tobias Dan}},
  issn         = {{0964-4016}},
  keywords     = {{circular economy; European Commission; narrative policy framework; plastics; Policy narratives; strategic construction}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{365--385}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{Environmental Politics}},
  title        = {{Narrating plastics governance : policy narratives in the European plastics strategy}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2021.1915020}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/09644016.2021.1915020}},
  volume       = {{31}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}