The Circularity Assessment Protocol in Cities to Reduce Plastic Pollution

Jambeck, J.R., Maddalene, T., Youngblood, K., Oposa, A., Perello, H., Werner, M., Itai Himelboim, Romness, K., Mathis, J., Keisling, C., & Brooks, A. L. (In Press). “The Circularity Assessment Protocol in Cities to Reduce Plastic Pollution,” Community Science.

Abstract: The circular economy has been promoted as a solution to plastic pollution, but cities and communities bear the brunt of plastic pollution. The Circularity Assessment Protocol (CAP) is a systems method of collaborative and open data collection for communities to use for decision and policy-making. The CAP has been utilized in 51 cities in 14 countries and is illustrated here in Metro Manila. Results include identifying manufacturing and parent companies to bring to the table; documenting most (77%) products are in single-use multi-layer film packaging; a small, but growing formal refill and reuse system; 10% of to-go food containers composed of paper-based alternatives, and a snap-shot leakage concentration of plastics to the environment that is 1.8 – 2.7% of current waste generation. Community narratives emerged from a collaborative workshop and are threaded throughout opportunities identified by the CAP process to inform circularity, future actions and policy as a scalable way to create systems change for plastic pollution from the ground up.