2nd Exchange Meeting „Social and Political Dimensions of Plastics in the Environment“

On November 9, 2018, around 20 social scientists from eight joint research projects (ENSURE, VerPlaPoS, REPLAWA, SubµTrack, PLAWES, EmiStop, PLASTRAT, PlastikBudget) met for the second exchange of social scientists in the research focus "Plastics in the Environment". The meeting was organized by Prof. Dr. Ruth Müller (TU Munich), Dr. Thomas Decker (City of Straubing) and Ecologic Institute.

Two working groups discussed the perception of plastics by citizens and consumers as well as standardisation, legal measures and self-regulation. During the discussions, several questions were raised, including the following:
» What should be regulated?
   (products, substances, processes, behaviour,...)
» Where/At which point do we have to regulate?
   (where along the value chain, which legal area)
» Which regulations require more knowledge?
   (micro- vs. macroplastics)
» Who are the drivers of the regulatory debate?
   (discourse formation)

In the discussions, it became clear that there are a number of overlaps in content and methodology between individual joint research projects. Therefore, the present joint research projects agreed to establish bilateral cooperations in the aftermath of the exchange meeting.