Global Journal of Science Frontier Research, H: Environment & Earth Science, Volume 23 Issue 1

biomagnifications of these compounds in the food chain. Globally, plastic kills about 100,000 marine mammals every year (Bowker, 1986). Thousands of additives are involved in the manufacture of plastic products (Lithner et al., 2011). Polyvinylchloride (PVC) is the polymer having the most of additives, including heat stabilizers to maintain the polymer intact during synthesis, and plasticisers such as phthalates to introduce flexibility (Lithner et al., 2011). As a matter of fact, the manufactured PVC may consist of the highest percentage of the latter additives (ca 80 %) (Buchta et al., 2005). As regards to polypropylene, a considerable amount of antioxidants and UV stabilisers are incorporated since this polymer is susceptible to oxidation (Pospıšil et al., 2003). Other toxic chemicals that may be released from plastics are nonylphenol from polyolefins, brominated flame retardants from acrylonitrile-butadienestyrene (ABS) or urethane foam and bisphenol A (BPA) from polycarbonate. The rate at which these chemicals are leached from the polymers is influenced by several factors, namely the size and volatility of the additive, the migration of the polymer due to its permeability, and the temperature and pH of the surrounding matrix such as air, water, soil and body tissues (Pospıšil et al., 2003). Commonly used plastics are not prone to microbial degradation. Fragmentation and release of polymers from plastics are instead due to ultraviolet (UV) light, heat, mechanical and/or chemical abrasion (Andrady2015). Depolymerisation results from the breaking of chemical bonds along the polymer backbone (chain scission). Different polymers have different depolymeriation rates which depend on the environmental conditions such as temperature and oxygen (LaMantia 2002). Hence, it is very hard to evaluate the risks related to the exposure to plastics and their additives, given the enormous complexity and variability of the possible product combinations, their different applications and ultimate environmental distribution once thrown away. Plastic additives that are particularly harmful to human health, through the ingestion of micro-plastics via consumption of sea food, are phthalates, bisphenol A, brominated flame retardants, triclosan, bisphenone and organotins. These chemicals have the abilities to disrupt the endocrine system and also have carcinogenic properties. Not only that marine litter is the root cause of the serious harm caused to the aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity, it also adversely impacts on the socio- economic aspect of country. As a typical example, there has been the discovery of Ecteinascidin 743, an anti- cancer drug extracted from the Caribbean sea squirt (Fleming et al., 2006). It is very clear that there is still a great avenue to tap into the potential for biotechnology, bioprospecting and biomimicry and this harm to the marine ecosystems can severely undermine the quest for new nature-based solutions. The other aspect of plastic waste is that it adds on to the economic loss through clean-up operations as well as loss of revenue from tourism and recreation activities. It can also lead to economic burdens on the shipping sector in terms of cleaning of fouled motors and ‘ghost fishing’ by lost and discarded nets. In view of this environmental crisis, marine litter has become a priority to tackle, being high on national, EU and global agendas. The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) meeting in Nairobi in May 2016 came up with a high level resolution to tackle marine litter (UNEP 2016). The G7 meeting in Bonn in May 2015 has instigated member states to get firmly engaged to address plastic pollution. Target 14.1 of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals refers to a drastic reduction of “marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris ” by 2025. In addition, the EU Water Framework Directive (60/2000/EC) and EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) have already introduced measures to reduce pollution and marine litter respectively. With the development of the Circular Economy Action Plan, the European Commission is now fully engaged to “ adopt a strategy on plastics in the circular economy, addressing issues such as recyclability, biodegradability, the presence of hazardous substances of concern in certain plastics, and marine litter ” (COM/2015/0614). II. C ircular E conomy On a short-term basis, the immediate action to minimize marine litter is to improve the waste collection and management ( Newman et al., 2015). In the long run, a more sustainable solution is to adopt the circular economy which inter-relates three major aspects namely environmental, social and economic. A number of indicators have been postulated to monitor the progress toward the goal of sustainable use of natural resources, such as intensity of material use, material input per unit of service, ecological rucksack and ecological footprint. Circular economy is a principle that promotes intelligent use of raw materials by allowing them circulate in the economy as long as this is justified economically and environmentally. It is one of the sectors of corporate social responsibility (CSR).Circular economy is defined as a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution which include material reduction, design for end-of-life recyclability, green chemistry life-cycle analyses and the use of bio- based feed stocks (Thompson et al., 2009). Phases of plastic production comprises of four steps: a) The sourcing phase starts with the extraction of raw materials, namely hydrocarbons. Currently, 99 % hydrocarbons are obtained from fossil-based sources and 1 % derived from bio-based sources. Holistic Approach to Tackle (Micro) Plastic Pollution: The Case of Mauritius © 2023 Global Journals 1 Year 2023 22 Global Journal of Science Frontier Research Volume XXIII Issue ersion I VI ( H )