Summary

Ubiquitous marine plastic pollution has become a prominent ecological issue, as it provokes implications that threaten marine species, induces health concerns, and causes vast economic damages. The complex dynamics behind its pervasive occurrence are multipronged and multidimensional, and simple clear-cut causal chains cannot always be identified. Analytical appraisals aiming to advance the understanding of pervasive plastic pollution need to address these complexities and acknowledge the interconnectedness of social and ecological systems. Orthodox economic analyses have insufficiently addressed this integration and are frequently characterized by shallow transdisciplinary and monodisciplinary approaches. As a result, several mechanisms that are highly relevant in constituting the problem tend to be neglected by presuming simplistic assumptions about human agency and inadequate nature-economy relationships. This reductionism in the conceptualization is mirrored in the policy responses that are advocated to address the issue. A broader perspective and the integration of different disciplinary concepts (such as biophysical limits as a result of the laws of thermodynamics, the notion of power, cognitive biases, institutions, and incommensurability) can underpin a more holistic perspective that considers the issue’s inherent complexities. While in a market idealist world consumers can “vote with their wallets” and transcend their values into purchasing decisions on the market, in reality there are essential difficulties to such an approach. Marine plastic pollution thus challenges economic thinking to address this real-world ecological challenge with insights that are compatible with and noncontradictory to the broad body of knowledge already elaborated by natural sciences. These perspectives are essential not only for forming a substantive interdisciplinary analysis and understanding the underlying institutions of consumption and production, clear key drivers of the problem, but also to identify promising political solutions for meaningful change.