Alice Mah - Plastic Unlimited

1 Cover

2 Praise for Plastic Unlimited

3 Title Page

4 Copyright Page

5 Abbreviations

6 Acknowledgements

7 1 Plastic Unlimited The Plastic Facts Origin Stories Unlimited Plastics Corporations Across the Plastics Value Chain Confronting Crisis Notes

8 2 Manufacturing Toxic Wants and Needs Overcoming Limits Creating Markets Protecting Markets Expanding Markets Corporate Responsibility and ‘Wishcycling’ Notes

9 3 The Corporate Alliance to (Never) End Plastic Waste The Marine Plastics Crisis The Circular Economy Solution The Promise and Peril of Chemical Recycling Plastics and Waste Colonialism The Trials of the Alliance The Real Value of Plastic Waste Notes

10 4 Hedging Against Climate Risk Is Plastic Pollution a Global Heating Problem? Degrees of Denial The Plastics Exception The Reluctant Race to Net Zero Poised for a Downturn? Notes

11 5 Plastics in the Pandemic Weathering the Storm Ballooning Plastic Facts Top Polluters The Regulatory Front of Green Recoveries Notes

12 6 How Can We Curb the Plastics Crisis? A Paris Agreement for Plastics Holding Corporations Accountable Challenging the Enablers The Trouble with Growth Rethinking Systems Halfway Optimism Notes

13 Selected Readings The History and Politics of Plastics – General Corporations and Sustainability – General Plastics Industry and Corporate Power Plastics and Health Plastics, Fossil Fuels, and Climate Plastics and the Circular Economy Marine Plastics Crisis Plastics, Waste, and Recycling Environmental Justice and Plastic Pollution Plastics and the Pandemic Plastic-Free Lifestyles Degrowth and the Limits to Growth

14 Index

15 End User License Agreement

1 Cover

2 Table of Contents

3 Begin Reading

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‘Timely, engaging, comprehensive. Mah delivers the book I’ve been waiting for – a power-and-geopolitics analysis of the multifaceted plastics crisis, past and present.’

Rebecca Altman, writer and environmental sociologist

‘Plastic Unlimited uncovers the driving forces behind the global problem of plastic waste that is damaging ecosystems, undermining public health, and widening inequalities. Alice Mah’s incisive analysis shows that the current plastics predicament is not mainly a problem of weak waste management or poor consumer choices, but instead is driven by powerful corporations that dominate plastics production and use.’

Jennifer Clapp, University of Waterloo

‘With breathtaking originality, Alice Mah exposes why plastics are poisoning our planet. Governance is failing. And corporations are out of control. Everyone should rush to read this incisive, fiery analysis. These companies must be held accountable.’

Peter Dauvergne, University of British Columbia

‘Tracing plastics back to their petrochemical source, Plastic Unlimited presents an unflinching investigation into corporate responsibility for the plastics crisis. Mah convincingly argues that plastics consumption and climate change are interlinked, and offers strategies for confronting these fossil-fuelled crises through multiscalar activism.’

Jennifer Gabrys, University of Cambridge and author of Citizens of Worlds: Open-Air Toolkits for Environmental Struggle

‘This fantastic book is extremely informative, well written, and a must-read for anyone interested in the deeper roots of the plastics crisis.’

Frank Geels, University of Manchester

‘ Plastic Unlimited is a vitally important book. It provides a cogent, nuanced, and resounding critique of the fossil fuel industry’s strategy to turn plastics into a saviour of global health, renewable energy technology, but, most of all, the industry’s bottom line. Read this book to understand how the climate emergency and plastics production go hand in hand.’

Josh Lepawsky, Memorial University of Newfoundland

‘ Plastic Unlimited is an exquisitely useful book and a must-read for anyone interested in plastic pollution. Pulling back the curtain on concepts like lifecycle assessments (LCAs), the circular economy, net zero, and chemical recycling, Alice Mah reveals how each one has specific ingredients that align with the continued growth of plastic production. Academia has lagged behind NGO research and investigative journalism on the plastics industry, but Plastic Unlimited decisively ends that trend. It’s the book I’ve been waiting for!’

Max Liboiron, Memorial University of Newfoundland and author of Pollution Is Colonialism

‘Mah’s brilliant analysis reveals how the continuous growth of the petrochemical industry draws upon an imaginary circular economy of plastics that leaves aside “waste colonialism” and environmental injustices.’

Joan Martínez-Alier, Autonomous University of Barcelona (ICTA)

Alice Mah

polity

Copyright © Alice Mah 2022

The right of Alice Mah to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2022 by Polity Press

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