In the spirit of the general policy of the Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources on waste prevention, Together against waste, the government's charter and the Nordic environment minister's plan to reduce the environmental impact of plastics, a consultative forum on a plastic action plan was set up last July.
Hrönn Jörundsdóttir, Head of Measurement Services and Research Infrastructure at Matís composed following the nomination of Matís to the consultation forum together with the nominated representatives of numerous stakeholders. The role of the forum is to come up with proposals on how to reduce the use of plastic, how to improve its recycling and how to deal with plastic pollution in the sea. The Consultative Forum should also make recommendations on what kind of research and what monitoring needs to be undertaken, regarding plastics and their use, as well as make suggestions regarding government actions that might be desirable. In addition, the consultation forum is intended to focus on how to promote innovation that can lead to less plastic use, such as the development of products that could replace known plastic products today.
In this context, it is worth mentioning that the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources has requests for comments on a proposal for an annex to the general policy on waste prevention, Together against waste. The annex includes measurable annual targets for the maximum amount of plastic packaging per capita, the number of carrier plastic bags per capita, the number of beverage packaging per capita and the waste ratio for fish and meat processing.
Hrönn has a doctorate in environmental chemistry and has worked on and led research on undesirable substances in the environment and food. Hrönn directs Matís' reference laboratory and is an expert in risk assessment regarding chemical pollution in food, and Hrönn will contribute his expertise in environmental issues and research on plastics in the environment as well as risk assessment into the work of the consultation forum, which is scheduled to end before 1 November 2018.