Functional classification and material characterization of plastic packaging in Flemish land litter to support effective reduction policies

Littered plastics are ubiquitous in the environment. This work presents an elaborate functional classification and material characterization of plastic packaging in land litter representatively sampled in Flanders, to support policy makers in taking effective reduction measures. In terms of mass, plastic bottles constituted the largest functional fraction (50.4 %) within plastic packaging found in land litter, followed by packaging films (food and non-food combined, 19.2 %) and rigid packaging (food and non-food combined, 18.2 %). In contrast, in number, plastic bottles were only the third lar... Mehr ...