Unsustainable production and consumption patterns of single use plastics are causing worldwide negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts on land-based and marine ecosystems. Nevertheless, in Latin America, plastics governance is still fragmented across borders because of dispersed normative adoption and limited regional coordination. In this context, the instrumental level of articulation between the international principles of environmental law and the formal legal arrangements from the Pacific Alliance countries is assessed to analyze how this strategic platform can contribute to offering a regional response to the global problem of single use plastics. For this purpose, an illustrative case study of the national and subnational regulation developed by the Pacific Alliance and its members was performed. To this end, a framework analysis was conducted on the official legal documents from Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador. The results show extensive and scattered subnational regulation to control the consumption of plastic bags and single use plastics, with diverse policies on extended producer responsibility, educational and economic strategies to influence mainly the consumer’s behaviour. Recommendations are presented in order to improve plastics governance in the region through the legal component.

Currently, to reduce the environmental problems associated with plastic waste, methods are being sought to use this waste as raw materials in different applications, such as fibers. In addition, to improve these materials and provide different properties, nanoparticles (NPs) are incorporated. In the present work, polymeric fibers made of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (r-PET) from post-consumer water bottles, functionalized with 0%, 1.5%, 3% and 6% zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) in function of r-PET weight, were elaborated to evaluate their antibacterial and antifungal characteristics. The ZnO-NPs were synthesized by the solvothermal method, obtaining particles with a mean diameter of 38.15 nm, while the fibers were obtained by electrospinning with a diameter range between 200–5000 nm. The functionalized fibers were carried out against Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis through the agar diffusion method, obtaining the highest inhibition halo at 6% w/w ZnO-NPs, being 26.5 mm and 34.25 mm, respectively. In addition, the same method was used to evaluate the antifungal activity of Penicillium s.p. and Fusarium graminearum, observing antifungal properties due to the presence of nanoparticles in the fibers.

A successful implementation of a CE requires an appropriate comprehension of its conceptual framework and the identification of the elements that composed it. However, there is still no consensus on a unique CE definition, which makes it difficult for companies to adopt circular practices in their business models. In this context, this study proposes a CE framework based on four fundamental elements: principles, drivers, stakeholders and strategies, which was complemented by circular-organization-oriented metrics. Then, local case studies were used to assess the implementation of CE strategies in Ecuadorian companies. Among the identified elements, it was found that there are general action lines that facilitate the understanding of the CE. On the other hand, the majority of elements and metrics are oriented toward the production and end-of-life stages, while extraction, design, use, marketing and distribution are less considered. Furthermore, although environmental, economic and social aspects are considered, the latter are mostly limited to employment generation. Finally, for the local case studies it was observed that the current adoption of circular practices in companies derives from the incorporation of the sustainability approach instead of a structured and systematic implementation of CE strategies.