According to the European Commission, almost 26 million tonnes of plastic waste are generated annually in the EU.* And since we learned how to produce plastic, humans have manufactured more than 8.3 billion tonnes of it – most of which ended up as a waste product somewhere on the planet.** This process leads to plastic waste entering the landscape, rivers, beaches, and eventually ocean.

So how can we possibly address a problem of this size?

On 29 November, participants joined webinar hosts Ricarda Faber and Aaron Best from Ecologic Institute and their two expert guests: Doris Knoblauch, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, who focuses on plastics in the environment, green urban environments, and local climate protection, and Kristian Syberg, Associate Professor at Roskilde University, who works in the interdisciplinary field of risk assessment and regulation of chemicals and plastic pollution - including microplastics. Together, they got to the bottom of the problem of plastic pollution, exploring EU policy and looked into the current negotiations around the world’s first-ever legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. 

The webinar is part of a new webinar series for young people in Europe that Ecologic Institute kick-started in 2022. 

We have already produced a podcast episode on the same topic “From packaging to microplastics: unwrapping EU plastics policies” -  that you can listen to online. The related podcast series "Green Deal – Big Deal?" is available online and on all relevant streaming platforms. 

Below, you can watch the videos of Doris Knoblauch and Kristian Syberg 's presentations. Their recordings are also available on the project website.

*Source: https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/plastics_en
**Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170719140939.htm