An assessment of the scope and effectiveness of soft measures to handle plastic pollution in the Baltic Sea Region

As a semi-closed sea, the Baltic Sea is especially vulnerable to human activities and pressures, such as tourism, industry, and increasing population size, which is also associated with increasing levels of plastic pollution. Apart from legal frameworks and technical solutions (e.g., waste management infrastructure), one of the means to address the problem is the use of soft measures, understood as non-compulsory, non-infrastructure, low-investment and low-effort measures that can be implemented in a way that is less complicated and costly than technical solutions. Based on the perceived need to further understand this matter, this paper discusses the role of soft measures in tackling plastic pollution. This paper combines a multi-methods approach consisting of a literature review on the topic, complemented by concrete examples of soft measures from different countries across the Baltic region. Drawing from the experiences gathered, it provides some suggestions aiming to maximise the impacts of soft measures and encourage their use as one of the tools that can be deployed to handle plastic pollution in the Baltic Sea Region and beyond.