Careful handling of marine plastic litter: Technology assessment and care

Waste is a core concern of today’s societies. A prominent example is marine plastic litter, which has devastating impacts on ocean ecosystems. But: How can technology assessment (TA) support a careful handling of plastic waste in the sea? And what can care concepts contribute to the practice of TA in this context? In this article, I show that care concepts can help understand the complexity of waste management as well as the environments involved, regulation processes, and technical innovations. Moreover, care concepts could benefit TA practice by sensitizing it not only to cultural, regional, and global concerns, but also to the distribution of responsibility and marginalization processes.