From packaging to microplastics: unwrapping EU plastics policies

Show notes

Since we learned how to produce plastic, humans have manufactured more than 8.3 billion tons of it – most of which ended up as a waste product, somewhere on the planet. This leads plastic waste to enter the landscape, rivers, beaches, and eventually ocean. We asked our listeners what, in their opinion, is the issue with plastic pollution. The answers ranged from negative impacts on human health and the environment to lack of recycling infrastructure and the global dimension of the plastics problem.

So how can we possibly address a problem of this size? In the latest “Green Deal – Big Deal?” podcast episode, the host Ewa Iwaszuk and a guest co-host Linda Mederake from Ecologic Institute try to get to the bottom of the problem of plastic pollution, together with their interview guests Frieder Rubik (Institute for Ecological Economic Research) and Jean-Pierre Schweitzer (European Environmental Bureau) who share interesting information and perspectives regarding plastic pollution.

** Relevant links & documents**

• Article: Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made
• Article: Outside the Safe Operating Space of the Planetary Boundary for Novel Entities
• Too good to be true? A study of green claims on plastic products
• Position Paper: How can EU legislation tackle microplastic pollution
• #breakfreefromplastic Branded Audit Report 2021
• First Circular Economy Action Plan (2015)
• A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy
• So-called Single-Use Plastics Directive
• Circular Economy Action Plan (2020)
• Directive on port reception facilities
• A policy framework on bio-based biodegradable and compostable plastics
• Microplastics pollution – measures to reduce its impact on the environment