Legal assessment
There is currently no policy that comprehensively addresses plastic pollution in the environment and is clearly aligned with the international climate and biodiversity targets of the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity. While a first legally binding global plastics treaty is being developed, legislation at EU and national level remains highly fragmented and insufficiently harmonized. The rationale for our activities is therefore to (1) assess the effectiveness of existing legislation, (2) to detect major loopholes and (3) to develop governance approaches that are able to successfully minimize the input of potentially harmful plastic substances into the environment at its source, considering both command-and-control legislation and economic policy instruments that can cap and minimize quantities, such as plastic production volumes. In doing so, we support the required gradual transition to a post-fossil society within planetary boundaries.
Contributing scientists:
Related Publications
[1] Stubenrauch, J., Ekardt, F. (2021): Zur Ausgestaltung eines nationalen Verbots giftiger Chemikalien bei Kunststoffen. Rechtsvergleichende und EU-rechtliche Aspekte, Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht, 19 (4), 406-425.
[2] Stubenrauch, J., Ekardt, F. (2020): Plastic Pollution in Soils: Governance Approaches to Foster Soil Health and Closed Nutrient Cycles; Environments, 7 (5), 38, DOI: 10.3390/environments7050038
[3] Garske, B., Stubenrauch, J., Ekardt, F., Weisse, C.F., Lorenz, M. (2020): Kunststoff-Governance im europäischen Kreislaufwirtschafts- und Stoffrecht; Zeitschrift für Umwelt- und Planungsrecht 2020 (4), 215-224
[4] Stubenrauch, J., Garske, B., Ekardt, F. (2020): Kunststoffe in Meeren und Böden: Regulierungsansätze im Wasser-, Naturschutz-, Bodenschutz- und Agrarrecht, Teil 1; Natur und Recht 2020(42), 395-402, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10357-020-3695-0
[5] Garske, B., Stubenrauch, J., Ekardt, F., Weisse, C.F., Lorenz, M. (2020): Kunststoff-Governance im europäischen Kreislaufwirtschafts- und Stoffrecht; Zeitschrift für Umwelt- und Planungsrecht 2020 (4), 215-224, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10357-020-3706-1