Data to support "Plastic Rivers project: Consumer-Based Actions to Reduce Plastic Pollution in Rivers: a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Approach"

Focusing on the most commonly occurring consumer plastic items present
in European freshwater environments, we identified and evaluated
consumer-based actions with respect to their direct or indirect
potential to reduce macroplastic pollution in freshwater environments.
As the main end users of these items, concerned consumers are faced
with a bewildering array of choices to reduce their plastics
footprint, notably through recycling or using reusable items. Using a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis approach, we explored the
effectiveness of 27 plastic reduction actions with respect to their
feasibility, economic impacts, environmental impacts, unintended
social/environmental impacts, potential scale of change and evidence
of impact. Total action scores have been calculated using a
multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) on 27 plastic reduction
actions identified though a literature review. Each of the total
action scores is the weighted sum of 1-5 scores (assigned to each of
ten criteria to assess the positive environmental impact of each
action, based on the literature review) and % weights of each
criterion to rank their relative importance. We provide two tables in csv format: 1) the % weights assigned by 15
experts to rank the relative importance of socio-economic and
environmental criteria to assess plastic reduction actions; 2) the 1-5
scores assigned to each of the ten criteria in relation to each of the
27 actions; the median weights for each of the ten criteria calculated
from 1); and the total action scores of each of the 27 actions
calculated as weighted sum (e.g. TAS action 1: sum of ten products of
% criterion weight * 1-5 scores assigned to each combination criterion
- plastic reduction action).