Research Project: What About the Circular Economy for Plastics in the OECD World?
The environmental and health issues caused by the steady increase of the production and consumption of plastics has attracted increasing public attention over the past decade. Policymakers and industry propose the Circular Economy as the solution. Plastics shall remain in the loop as long as possible instead of ending up on landfill or in the nature. But what is the state of play in the realisation of a Circular Economy for Plastics? The German-Israeli project „Regulating the Circular Economy and Plastics in the OECD World“ (RegCirc) in which Prof. Sandra Eckert (Chair of Comparative Politics) is a Principal Investigator gives answers.
RegCirc contributes to existing research as it for the first time investigates the regulatory and voluntary measures that have been adopted in 12 OECD countries and by the European Union in the period between 2001 and 2021 to realise the Circular Economy for plastics. Based on this stocktaking the team researches the conditions and motives that have led to the adoption of these measures, but also their effectiveness.
Researchers from FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, the Open University of Israel and the LMU Munich participate in the project that has received funding from the German Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development.