ORCID Profile
0000-0001-7614-1027
Current Organisations
CSIRO
,
University of Tasmania
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Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 14-10-2022
DOI: 10.3389/FRSUS.2022.963432
Abstract: There is an increased focus on plastic pollution and the resultant harms in our oceans and on our shores at local, regional, and global scales. New technologies are being developed and trialed, multilateral agreements are coming into play, and the role of a circular economy is increasingly touted as the key to help solve the plastic pollution crisis. Simultaneously, we are witnessing the disruption of global supply chains from the COVID-19 pandemic, increased fuel prices and increased scope and scale of natural disasters. In idual countries are setting national targets and are developing national plans of action to combat plastic pollution. In this paper, we focus on Australia's National Plastics Plan as a case study of a national approach to addressing this transboundary issue. We discuss the Plan in relation to supply chains, the role of standards and best practices, and principles for a successful circular plastic economy. We explicitly consider the role of reverse logistics and regional approaches that could be developed and implemented within island nations. Overall, we argue for culturally appropriate, economically and environmentally place-based solutions as a necessary approach to help reduce plastic losses to the environment, acknowledging that plastics leakage to the environment is a social equity issue.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2022
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 05-10-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2018
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 24-09-2019
DOI: 10.3390/SU11195232
Abstract: Bottled water is one sector of the beverage industry that has recently experienced substantial growth. The littering of plastic water bottles and the carbon emissions produced from bottled water production results in harmful effects on the environment. To reduce the harm of bottled water production and litter, government and non-government organisations have implemented litter abatement and behavioural change strategies targeting bottled water consumption and subsequent loss of bottles to the environment. Our study evaluated the success of one of these strategies, which is a filtered water refill station, implemented along the Brisbane River in Queensland, Australia. We found plastic bottle litter decreased after a water refill station was put into operation. However, given the location of the refill station, we suggest the behavioural change strategy employed did not reach its full potential. We highlight factors that could be employed to achieve maximum benefits when implementing similar behavioural change strategies.
Publisher: CSIRO
Date: 2017
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 25-11-2022
DOI: 10.1017/SUS.2022.19
Abstract: Rivers are crucial to the water cycle, linking the landscape to the sea. Human activities, including effluent discharge, water use and fisheries, have transformed the resilience of many rivers around the globe. Sustainable development goal (SDG) 14 prioritizes addressing many of the same issues in marine ecosystems. This review illustrates how rivers contribute directly and indirectly to SDG 14 outcomes, and also provides ways to potentially address them through a river to sea view on policy, management and research. The United Nations initiated the SDGs to produce ‘a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future’. Established in 2015, progress of SDGs directed at the aquatic environment is slow despite an encroaching 2030 deadline. The modification of flow regimes combined with other anthropogenic pressures underpin ecological impacts across aquatic ecosystems. Current SDG 14 targets (life below water) do not incorporate the interrelationships of rivers and marine systems systematically, nor do they provide recommendations on how to improve existing management and policy in a comprehensive manner. Therefore, this review aims to illustrate the linkages between rivers and marine ecosystems concerning the SDG 14 targets and to illustrate land to sea-based strategies to reach sustainability goals. We provide an applied case study to show how opportunities can be explored. We review three major areas where mutual opportunities are present: (1) rivers contribute to marine and estuary ecosystem resilience (targets 14.1, 14.2, 14.3, 14.5) (2) resilient rivers are part of the global fisheries sustainability concerns (targets 14.4, 14.6, 14.7, 14.B) and (3) enhancing marine policy and research from a river and environmental flows perspective (targets 14.A, 14.C). Restoring resilience to rivers and their environmental flows helps fulfil SDG 14.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2021
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.MARPOLBUL.2022.114028
Abstract: Studies show that a driver of coastal debris is the rate between debris deposition and resuspension however, the influence of beach zone topography on the distribution of debris remains poorly understood. Using five years of marine debris data collected by the COASST citizen science program, we explored the spatiotemporal trends in debris abundance within two regions of the United States Pacific Northwest and investigated whether higher debris loads are associated with beach zones that have a higher propensity to trap debris. We found that beaches with larger wood zones had higher debris loads, adding to the growing evidence that backshore areas of beaches act as sinks for debris. Higher debris loads were also associated with beaches that had larger wrack zones suggesting that onshore transport from the marine reservoir is a dominant source of debris. This study provides a long-term baseline of marine debris which managers could use to inform source reduction interventions.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2021
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 19-12-2017
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-03-2017
DOI: 10.1038/SREP44479
Abstract: Marine debris is a burgeoning global issue with economic, ecological and aesthetic impacts. While there are many studies now addressing this topic, the influence of urbanisation factors such as local population density, stormwater drains and roads on the distribution of coastal litter remains poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we carried out standardized surveys at 224 transect surveys at 67 sites in two estuaries and along the open coast in Tasmania, Australia. We explored the relative support for three hypotheses regarding the sources of the debris direct deposition by beachgoers, transport from surrounding areas via storm water drains and coastal runoff, and onshore transport from the marine system. We found strong support for all three mechanisms, however, onshore transport from the marine reservoir was the most important mechanism. Overall, the three models together explained 45.8 percent of the variation in our observations. Our results also suggest that most debris released into the marine environment is deposited locally, which may be the answer to where all the missing plastic is in the ocean. Furthermore, local interventions are likely to be most effective in reducing land-based inputs into the ocean.
Location: Australia
No related grants have been discovered for Kathryn Willis.