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The Mediterranean Plastic Soup - Economic Policies to avoid further pollution

Karlberg, Philip LU (2013) NEKH01 20122
Department of Economics
Abstract (Swedish)
There are laws that prohibit ships from discharging solid waste into the Mediterranean Sea. However, it’s estimated that between 15-35% of all plastic found in the Mediterranean comes from merchant shipping. Economic incentives are important to make ships reduce their maritime litter, and this essay will assess economic policies to prevent further pollution. France and Spain have different systems when it comes to the reception of ship-generated waste in the Mediterranean Sea. The Spanish system applies a standard mandatory tax to all ships calling its ports in order to be able to supply all ships with containers for garbage discharge upon arrival. In France, ships have to order the containers in advance and have a larger choice of... (More)
There are laws that prohibit ships from discharging solid waste into the Mediterranean Sea. However, it’s estimated that between 15-35% of all plastic found in the Mediterranean comes from merchant shipping. Economic incentives are important to make ships reduce their maritime litter, and this essay will assess economic policies to prevent further pollution. France and Spain have different systems when it comes to the reception of ship-generated waste in the Mediterranean Sea. The Spanish system applies a standard mandatory tax to all ships calling its ports in order to be able to supply all ships with containers for garbage discharge upon arrival. In France, ships have to order the containers in advance and have a larger choice of suppliers, but prices vary much from port to port as they reflect the volume of the container. Fines are applied in both countries to ships that fail to discharge garbage in port, but how frequently these fines are applied is hard to get information on. The ports may regard the ships as clients and therefore may want to avoid any conflict with their customers. An economic policy, the Anti-Pollution fine, is based on the Pigovian tax and could encourage ships to discharge all their waste in port as the fine is much higher than the container costs. A recycling policy inspired from the PET-system has also been assessed and could prove effective in the short run. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Karlberg, Philip LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKH01 20122
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
MARPOL, Negative Externalities, Pigovian Tax, Plastic, Port Reception Facilities
language
English
id
3461355
date added to LUP
2013-02-13 15:58:48
date last changed
2013-02-13 15:58:48
@misc{3461355,
  abstract     = {{There are laws that prohibit ships from discharging solid waste into the Mediterranean Sea. However, it’s estimated that between 15-35% of all plastic found in the Mediterranean comes from merchant shipping. Economic incentives are important to make ships reduce their maritime litter, and this essay will assess economic policies to prevent further pollution. France and Spain have different systems when it comes to the reception of ship-generated waste in the Mediterranean Sea. The Spanish system applies a standard mandatory tax to all ships calling its ports in order to be able to supply all ships with containers for garbage discharge upon arrival. In France, ships have to order the containers in advance and have a larger choice of suppliers, but prices vary much from port to port as they reflect the volume of the container. Fines are applied in both countries to ships that fail to discharge garbage in port, but how frequently these fines are applied is hard to get information on. The ports may regard the ships as clients and therefore may want to avoid any conflict with their customers. An economic policy, the Anti-Pollution fine, is based on the Pigovian tax and could encourage ships to discharge all their waste in port as the fine is much higher than the container costs. A recycling policy inspired from the PET-system has also been assessed and could prove effective in the short run.}},
  author       = {{Karlberg, Philip}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Mediterranean Plastic Soup - Economic Policies to avoid further pollution}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}