Port reception facilities and a regional approach: A bridge for abating plastic pollution in the arctic?

Abstract

The plastic plague impacting the world's oceans stretches to the polar regions, and has now been documented in all areas of Arctic marine environments from floating sea ice to the seabed floor. As shipping and other maritime activities increase in a warming Arctic, preventing ever more marine plastic pollution is a global and regional imperative. The current international legal regime, despite banning discharge of plastic waste from ships for many years, has failed to halt marine plastic litter from sea-based sources in the Arctic. This paper examines through textual analysis how port reception facilities (PRFs), a critical element of international legal and policy frameworks for keeping vessel-source plastics out of the marine environment, have been insufficiently defined and loosely characterized in global agreements. Assessment of regional instruments and initiatives with an Arctic focus or impact reveals concrete ways in which defining fundamental adequacy criteria of PRFs can be achieved. Regional solutions to filling gaps in the global PRF regulatory regime run the risk of adding to legal fragmentation and conflicting norms. Options for mitigating and managing these risks include regime collaboration and co-creation of standards, which could have relevance to integrating PRFs as plastic waste control mechanisms in a new global plastics treaty.