News

28TH - 29TH JUNE 2021

The University of Surrey is organising a multidisciplinary online event. As part of a programme they will bring together scholars to re-design the governance and management of plastics to achieve effective reduction in pollution of the environment and the impact on public health caused by plastic waste.

The use and governance of plastics has gained significant prominence in the world today. The problems around plastics and the pollution generated by this material call for further analysis of their production and disposal specifically from a regulatory and governance perspective. This workshop aims to explore issues around the use and governance of plastics, bringing together expertise from a multidisciplinary group of researchers, focusing on, but not limited to the following:

• The use, consumption, reduction and governance of plastics in a sustainable form, with particular attention to the developing world
• Voluntary initiatives, business models taken by individuals/groups to lessen the burden on the environment
• Legal mechanisms governing plastics and plastic products such as environmental taxation, extended producer responsibility, eco-design, product impact assessment, etc.
• Regulatory opportunities and challenges for fostering circular plastics economies (in which plastic waste is prevented and plastic reused, recycled or recovered with the aim of sustainable development)
• Contractual and intellectual property implications of designing products for circular plastics economics
• Consequences of COVID-19 on the regulation of plastics and the impact that COVID-19 has had on the use of single-use plastics
• Communications issues around the story of plastics and their impact on governance
• Property issues and liability for harm from waste plastics
• Employment law issues relating to waste pickers
• What are consumers’ behaviours, attitudes, and preferences towards sustainable/green online retailers?
• What role does online retailing data play in enhancing a firm’s sustainability practices?
• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on online retailing and sustainability.
• What role does a firm’s virtual frontline, i.e., chatbots and e-agents, play in sustainability orientation?
• How does cloud computing influence online retailing and what role does it play in sustainability practices?

This workshop is associated with three Special Issues of the following journals,

1. Social Sciences, titled “The Governance of Plastics”
2. Sustainability, titled “Retailing and Sustainable Marketing”
3. Business & Society, titled “Stakeholder engagement: opening up Participation, Inclusion and Democracy”

Selected papers from the workshop will be invited for submission to these Special Issues.

There will also be a special plenary session with the editor of Social Sciences

For more information please visit Use and Governance of Plastics.

Deadline for submission of Abstracts,Sunday, 30th May 2021.