Ecologic Institute is preparing an assessment report on “Technological options for reducing plastic waste in the oceans”. The report will provide a systematic overview of technologies designed to remove plastic waste from water bodies. The analysis will evaluate technical, ecological and economic aspects as well as risks and benefits. The report will present the current state of knowledge in a concise and scientifically robust manner, identify gaps in knowledge and provide a basis for informed decisions.

In the course of the project, a comprehensive research, analysis and evaluation of certification systems for recycled plastics will be carried out. A central aim of the project is to enable a simple and quick comparison of the identified, analysed and evaluated certification systems.

The Plastic Pirates start a new small project in the autumn of 2024. The new focus this time: the river system of the Danube! The second-longest river of Europe, stretching over 2.850 kilometers, starts in the Black Forrest, and flows through a total of 10 countries before emptying in the Black Sea. The river system includes many important tributaries, for example the Isar, Inn and Lech. The new project focused on the Danube is an addition to the ongoing analysis of the Elbe River System and the German coasts. Gaining further insights in plastic pollution of these water bodies will be the aim of the Plastic Pirates’ 2024 autumn campaign period.

Since 2016, young people have been successfully researching and mapping plastic pollution in and around rivers in Germany. Now the expeditions are going into a new round: In the project "Plastic Pirates – German coast", school classes and youth groups search for plastic waste on the coasts and the river system of the Elbe – including its tributaries such as the Havel, Mulde or Saale.

Single-use plastics (SUPs) consumption is booming worldwide, with Asia being no exception. On the contrary: Asia is experiencing increasing levels of SUP consumption due to rapid economic growth, urbanization, and changing consumption and production patterns including the increase of E-commerce and rising sales of processed and packaged food. Last but not least, a "sachet economy" has been established with small portions of products (e.g., instant coffee, shampoo) being sold for convenience and to target especially the large population groups with lower purchasing power.

The international conference on 19 and 20 October 2022, will address microplastics in soils and has two main objectives: 1. to present the current state of international research on the problem of microplastics in soils and 2. to identify the need for action on the part of policy-makers and compiling and discussing possible strategies for implementing recommendations for action at international level.

Ecomodulation of fees can play a crucial role in incentivizing upstream design changes by reducing the fees for products or packaging designed for circular economy. Products or packaging with circular design (e.g., a minimum percentage of recycled content, high reparability index, reduction in weight of material, shift from low to easily recyclable material(s)) could benefit from reduced fees, while those with design barriers, which are also often exported to developing countries for end-of-life treatment, could incur higher fees. Thus, ecomodulation of fees can play a vital role in prioritizing design as waste prevention, reusability, reparability and recyclability. Against this background, this project run by Ecologic Institute focused on the product streams batteries, plastic/packaging, textiles and waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE).

Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues. Calls for a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution have increased over the last years, discussions will continue at the next sessions of the UN Environment Assembly in February 2022. After the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Expert Group on Marine Litter and Microplastics concluded its work in November 2020, various countries have started to prepare positions and forge alliances in preparation of these pending discussions.

In current environmental policy debates on resource conservation, the Netherlands are often cited as a good-practice example because of these absolute reduction targets. In this project, Susanne Langsdorf and Laurens Duin explored the Dutch targets and the vision for a circular economy. They shed light on the development, structure and implementation of the Dutch Circular Economy Program and related policy processes, including the established monitoring program.

A torn plastic bag on the riverbank or a yoghurt cup floating in the water are symptoms of serious interference with the highly complex system of seas, the ocean and flowing waterways. The Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! project focuses on this plastic waste problem and our future handling of it. It aims to familiarise young people with the general topic of the ocean and water cycles in the process. They will learn what it means to work scientifically – and try their hand at it.

Ecologic Institute is providing scientific support to the non-fiction youth book Plastik, Müll und Ich being written by children and youth author Gesine Grotrian. The book is aimed at answering the questions that young people have about plastics. It is published by Heinrich Böll Foundation.

A torn plastic bag on the riverbank or a yoghurt cup floating in the water are symptoms of serious interference with the highly complex system of seas, the ocean and flowing waterways. The Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! project focuses on this plastic waste problem and our future handling of it. It aims to familiarise young people with the general topic of the ocean and water cycles in the process. They will learn what it means to work scientifically – and try their hand at it.

The European Union is strongly committed to shifting to a competitive, low-carbon circular economy. The first European Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) from December 2015 set a framework for stimulating the transition towards a circular economy. It is foreseen to revise the CEAP in 2020 to further strengthen the momentum and enable businesses, industry and society to transition to a circular economy.

Since 2017, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has been operating the Internet platform of the Round Table on Marine Litter at www.muell-im-meer.de. The main objective of the platform is to provide organisational support for the German Roundtable on Marine Litter and its working groups, in particular by providing a password-protected member area. In addition, the public part of the platform serves public relations work and the bundling of information on marine litter. In this project the Ecologic Institute is responsible for the further development, relaunch, operation, technical maintenance and hosting of the internet platform. Ecologic Institute is creating and implementing a development guide on structural and functional changes for the internet platform.

Combating plastic litter on land and in water is one of the major challenges of global environmental protection. As part of its plastics strategy, the EU will adopt a directive to restrict the use of several disposable plastic products and fishing gear. On behalf of the German Environment Agency, Ecologic Institute and s.Pro assessed legal questions and investigated appropriate measures to implement the Extended Producer Responsibility that the Directive in the Member States for selected product groups.

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 behalf of WWF, the project team from adelphi and Ecologic Institute thus compiled a report on gaps in global plastic governance and developed options for the design of a legally binding agreement to eliminate further marine plastic pollution.

Ecologic Institute participates in a Framework Contract for Europeaid (2018-2020) for "Sustainable management of Natural Resources and Resilience" in the implementation of external aid. The aim of the Framework Contract is to support and advise European Commission services (Headquarters and EU Delegations) and/or Partner Countries/Organisations along the entire cycle of operations (from design to implementation and evaluation of EU interventions) by providing technical inputs and by assisting in carrying out analysis, studies and providing opinions and advice.

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, which dealt with plastics in the environment funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF).

The Project "A Taste of the Future of the Seas" brings scientific insights about sustainable use and protection of oceans to the public with an interactive series of events held at the Museum for Natural History in Berlin. Three dialogue-oriented and action-packed formats offered the opportunity to learn about advances and challenges in sustainable marine science – and motivated participants through fun, sensory experiences to act and consume consciously.

The research project’s objective is to provide a legal and political science perspective to the Federal Government’s efforts to anchor the protection of resources more strongly at the international level. The project analyses how public international law and other international governance mechanisms can contribute to making the utilisation of resources more efficient and reducing resource consumption.