| © Kati Bachnik

Plastic Regulation – Who is responsible?

Event: Workshop
Date: 7 September 2019
Location: Berlin, Germany
Speaker: Linda Mederake

There are numerous regulatory approaches for handling plastic products and plastic waste in various areas such as waste and recycling policy, marine protection or chemicals policy. During the workshop, Linda Mederake gave an insight into existing plastic regulations and initiatives at the international, European and national levels to reduce the amount of plastics entering the environment. She critically discussed what stages in the life cycle of plastics are targeted by political solutions and she also highlighted regulatory gaps.

Subsequently, small groups discussed individual aspects of the issue, among them: Would an international plastics convention be desirable and what specific opportunities would it offer? What are the possibilities for avoiding plastics at the municipal level? How strong is the impact of consumer choices?

The workshop took place as part of the annual conference of former scholarship holders of the Heinrich Böll Foundation on 7 September 2019 in Berlin.

Existing regulatory approaches lack quantified objectives and targets, the effectiveness of agreements is poorly monitored and not all aspects of the plastic problem are sufficiently covered at present.

Towards an Effective Science-Policy Interface for a Global Plastics Treaty

Year 2024

Publication:Policy Brief

Amidst intense global efforts to tackle plastic pollution, the Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty highlights the critical role of reducing primary plastic polymers. The Scientists' Coalition, consisting of leading scientists worldwide, argues in its latest policy brief that without a significant reduction in the production of these polymers, the effective fight against plastic pollution is not possible. The urgent call aims to draw attention to the need to break the plastic cycle at its source - the production of primary plastic polymers. This approach is crucial as it directly reduces the amount of plastics that end up in our environment.

Primary Plastic Polymers: Urgently needed upstream reduction

Year 2024

Presentation:Speech

On 13 March 2024, Doris Knoblauch (Ecologic Institute) gave a lecture on "Plastics and the Environment" highlighting the need for a global plastics treaty at a postgraduate course, where 21 experts from ministries, authorities, municipalities, non-governmental organizations and industry from low-income countries and emerging economies were represented and exchanged. The focus was on why plastic pollution is a problem and why we urgently need an international, legally binding plastics treaty.

Plastics & the Environment – Why We Need a Plastics Treaty

13 March 2024
Doris Knoblauch

News

Doris Knoblauch was an observer at the negotiations in Nairobi during the week and, as part of the Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty (Scientist's Coalition for short), provided various negotiating delegations with scientific information. The Scientist's Coalition is an independent network of scientists around the world who conduct research on plastics, chemicals, and health, covering various disciplines and aspects. A team was on site to answer open questions quickly, scientifically and independently.

UN Negotiations on a Potential Plastics Agreement were Stuck in Nairobi

A long way to go

13 - 19 November 2023

Publication:Article

Plastics Treaty Text Must Center Ecosystems

Letter in Science

Year 2023

Publication:Article

This article illustrates the communication strategies that were successfully applied in the citizen science program Plastic Pirates in Germany. The program engages schoolchildren, teachers and youth groups in plastic pollution research. A variety of communication strategies have been implemented and continuously revised and adapted since the start of the program in 2016.

Sharing Communication Insights of the Citizen Science Program Plastic Pirates

Best practices from 7 years of engaging schoolchildren and teachers in plastic pollution research

Year 2023

News

Photo, taken during the plastic negotiations. Text "Help us to empower the independent voice of science by supporting our involvement in the plastics treaty negotiations" and a donation button

Ecologic Institute is a UN-accredited voice for a global plastics agreement. But we lack funding for the next decisive round of negotiations in Busan (South Korea) in November 2024. By participating, we are contributing to counteracting lobbying and enabling delegates to be properly informed. In Ottawa, we are currently providing specialist information on the effects of plastic production and consumption. Your donation will enable us to strengthen independent science and continue this important work!

Strengthen the Independent Voice of Science

Support our participation in the global plastics negotiations!

22 April 2024

News

After the euphoria had been dampened at the beginning of the negotiation week in Paris, there was a good result in the end: The Chair H.E. Mr. Gustavo Adolfo Meza-Cuadra Velasquez and the INC Secretariat were given a mandate to present a first draft ("zero draft") in the run-up to the next negotiations. This is an important next step. Doris Knoblauch accompanied the INC-2 negotiations in Paris for Ecologic Institute.

Why the Negotiations on the UN Plastics Agreement in Paris were a Success

An important step

29 May - 2 June 2023

Publication:Book

For many people, plastic bottles have become an indispensable part of everyday life. However, the production and throwing away of plastic bottles is harmful to the environment and the climate. Ideally, PET bottles are recycled and reused. But what happens to the bottles during the recycling process? "Die Geisterstunde" by Christian Tielmann is the third PIXI book produced as part of the BMBF research focus "Plastics in the Environment" with Stiftung Lesen and Carlsen Verlag and is dedicated to the recycling of plastic bottles.

Die Geisterstunde

Year 2023

Organizer: Ehemalige Stipendiat*innen der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung e.V., Germany

Ecologic Institute, Germany
Speaker: Linda Mederake
Date: 7 September 2019
Location: Berlin, Germany
Language: German
Project: Scientific Coordination of Research Projects on "Plastics in the Environment – Sources • Sinks • Solutions" (PlastikNet)
Project ID: 2295
Keywords: Consumer Policy

Governance

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Water

Plastics

Events

plastics, plastic regulation, governance, consumer policy

Further Links

Website of the research focus "Plastics in the Environment"

ProjectScientific Coordination of Research Projects on "Plastics in the Environment – Sources • Sinks • Solutions" (PlastikNet)

| Fotolia © Christian Schulz

In the framework of the scientific accompanying research (PlastikNet) of the research focus "Plastics in the Environment – Sources • Sinks • Solutions" (Plastik in der Umwelt – Quellen • Senken • Lösungsansätze) Ecologic Institute coordinated 20 joint research projects,... Read more

Scientific Coordination of Research Projects on "Plastics in the Environment – Sources • Sinks • Solutions" (PlastikNet)

Duration: Sep 2017 - Jun 2023
Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany

Project"No more Plastics in the Oceans": Designing a legally binding global plastic convention

Plastic pollution of the world's oceans is a quickly growing environmental problem. A number of international instruments and treaties are trying to address the problem, but the growing amount of plastic waste that is polluting our seas shows these are insufficient. On... Read more

"No more Plastics in the Oceans": Designing a legally binding global plastic convention

Duration: Sep - Dec 2018
Funding: World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), International

PublicationArticleRegulation: Solutions at the Wrong End.

Heinrich Boell Foundation

There are numerous regulatory approaches at international, regional and national level regarding the handling of plastic products and plastic waste. What they all have in common is their limited effectiveness. In their contribution, Linda Mederake, Stephan Gürtler and... Read more

Mederake, Linda; Gürtler, Stephan; Knoblauch, Doris (2019): Regulation: Solutions at the Wrong End. In: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung und BUND – Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (Eds.): Plastic Atlas 2019. Facts and figures about the world of synthetic polymers. Berlin.

PresentationLectureThe Governance of Plastics

Präsentation "Plastik-Governance"

On 30 November 2018, Linda Mederake, Junior Researcher at Ecologic Institute, presented the Institute's activities in the field of plastics governance to a group of students from the International Degree Program Political Management (B.A.) at Hochschule Bremen, City... Read more

Lecture:The Governance of Plastics

Date: 30 November 2018
Location: Ecologic Institute, Berlin, Germany

PresentationLectureTowards a Global Plastics Convention

Präsentation "Towards a Global Plastics Convention"

At Scotland's International Marine Conference 2019, Ecologic Institute's Linda Mederake presented results from the study "No more Plastics in the Ocean – Gaps in Global Plastic Governance and Options for a Legally Binding Agreement to Eliminate Marine Plastic Pollution"... Read more

Lecture:Towards a Global Plastics Convention

Date: 21 February 2019
Location: Glasgow, United Kingdom

PublicationPosterPlastics in the Environment: Social Science Research – Poster Series

How is a topic such as microplastics socially problematised? How can consumers use plastics more sustainably? And what role do the interests and perceptions of different actors play in international plastics regulation? These and other questions are posed by social... Read more

Ecologic Institute 2019: Plastik in der Umwelt: Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung. Überblick über Forschungsgegenstände, Ergebnisarten und Zielgruppen der Projekte mit sozialwissenschaftlichem Anteil im BMBF-Forschungsschwerpunkt "Plastik in der Umwelt". PlastikNet Poster Series. Poster.