How can we achieve a sustainable future with plastics? This question was the focus of our first POLYPROBLEM Camp, “New Narratives for the Plastics Transition,” in Frankfurt, which brought together experts from civil society and business. The goal was to develop new approaches to the responsible use of plastics – beyond simple blame-shifting or moral appeals.
POLY:Solution Lunch: PLASTIC TREATY FUTURES – What should really be in the global plastics agreement
Negotiations for the global plastics agreement are in full swing! What impact do the decisions of the negotiators have on the global plastic waste volume? Systemiq has modeled different scenarios. Yoni Shiran, Plastics Lead at Systemiq, will present the results of the model and report on the negotiations.
From the fledgling startup to the international corporation. From the environmental NGO to the Federal Ministry. Bringing together the entire spectrum of business, politics and civil society for a day of joint reflection, tinkering, exchange and sharing of ideas – that is the goal of the POLYPROBLEM Stakeholder Dialogue. The plan worked again at the third edition.
First Tübingen and now Munich also wants a plastic tax on single-use plastics: What obstacles need to be overcome? And is the future of plastic regulation at the local level? Julia Post, politician in the Munich City Council for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, reported on her project and discussed it with the participants of the event.
Retailers take back plastic packaging, manufacturers collect their own products again: Take-back models are diverse. At the second POLY:Solution Lunch, Felix Weber, Head of Germany at the international recycling company MBA Polymers, reports on such a Europe-wide program in cooperation with a major cosmetics manufacturer.
CO2 emissions trading is considered the most powerful economic instrument for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Can the principle be transferred to plastics production? POLYPROBLEM discussed this with Ansgar Schonlau from Maag GmbH and Dr. Dirk Textor from bvse-Fachverband Kunststoffrecycling at the first POLY:Solution Lunch.
Plastic Credits are very popular with companies and private individuals when it comes to offsetting their own plastic footprint. But how honest is the promise of supposed plastic neutrality really and what contribution can plastic compensation models actually make to combating the plastic crisis?
If almost everything is connected to everything else that threatens the planet, then the answer can only be a system change – the most difficult and complex of all conceivable tasks. In such a situation, scenarios are indispensable. The question “What happens if…” was therefore the guiding question of our POLYPROBLEM Stakeholder Dialogue 2022.
If almost everything is connected to everything else that threatens the planet, then the answer can only be a system change – the most difficult and complex of all conceivable tasks. In such a situation, scenarios are indispensable. The question “What happens if…” was therefore the guiding question of our POLYPROBLEM Stakeholder Dialogue 2022.
For two days, the Circular Future Innovation Program invites stakeholders to digital dialogues, local hubs, as well as learning labs, marketplaces and networking opportunities around the circular transformation of business and society in German-speaking countries.
Everyone agrees that used plastics must be recycled much more consistently. Nevertheless, the proportion of recyclates in global plastics processing is less than 10 percent. Self-commitments by individual industries do not seem to be the solution.
Almost 400 million tons of plastic are currently produced worldwide every year. However, not even ten percent of it consists of recycled material. There are several reasons for this. One of them is an intransparent and inefficiently organized market for recyclates. The Hamburg-based startup CIRPLUS wants to change that – with a global, digital marketplace for recycled plastic.
In the POLYPROBLEM Online Workshop, CIRPLUS founder Christian Schiller analyzes the problems of the faltering interaction between supply and demand and presents his solution.
The time for experiments is running out. If it does not succeed quickly in establishing a systematic and resilient waste management system in the Global South, many other efforts to reduce the input of plastic waste into the environment will be in vain. This is shown not only by our latest report “The Waste of Others”, but also by the discussion from past online seminars.
Too often, experts from the Global North talk about plastic waste in the Global South. We wanted to know firsthand what the local NGOs are concerned about and therefore invited the founder of Environment360 from Ghana to the online seminar. The recording with Cordie Aziz is available online.
There is no blueprint for a functioning, circular waste management system. Solutions from industrialized countries cannot be exported one-to-one to emerging and developing countries. Instead, collaborations at eye level between municipalities, waste collectors, and the local recycling industry must be carefully developed under the respective conditions. Dorothea Wiplinger, Sustainability Manager at Borealis AG and initiator of Project STOP, will report on what needs to be considered in the online seminar.
Joining forces. Developing solutions together instead of launching ever new individual projects into the world: How business, science and civil society can better cooperate in solving the problem of progressive environmental pollution caused by plastic waste was the topic of the 1st POLYPROBLEM Stakeholder Dialogue on March 27, 2019 in Berlin.
