Correlates With Policy
As the paper explained, the data the scientists tracked corresponds chronologically with certain types of international policies and law. During the 1970s and 1980s, marine laws against dumping trash in the ocean were legally binding and came with substantial fines for violations. In the 1990s, policies began to get looser; policies passed after 2005, when the spike in plastic increased, have been by and large “fragmented, favor business-oriented solutions, lack specificity, and do not include measurable targets,” the study concludes.
