Nicholas Institute Inventory Grows to More Than 1,000 Plastics Policies

The Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke University has released the latest update to a resource for policymakers and researchers exploring how governments are responding to the plastics crisis.

The Plastics Policy Inventory now contains more than 1,000 public policies introduced around the world between 2000 and 2023 that aim to reduce plastic use and waste. The searchable database includes policies written in more than 40 languages that were passed by local, regional and national governments, as well as international institutions.

The Nicholas Institute launched the inventory and a companion analysis in 2020 with funding and support from The Pew Charitable Trusts as part of its Preventing Ocean Plastics project. The inventory initially catalogued nearly 300 policies.

In March 2021, the U.N. Development Programme, with support from the governments of Sweden and Norway, recognized the inventory as one of eight winning projects in its inaugural Ocean Innovation Challenge. The Nicholas Institute used challenge funding to expand the inventory, develop a library of studies on the effectiveness of plastics policies and analyze trends in plastics policy, including an initial assessment of gender considerations.

The institute has also compiled a list of additional resources to supplement its own work

The inventory is just one example of interdisciplinary research being conducted into the plastics crisis at Duke. Comprised of dozens of scholars and students from across Duke, the university’s Plastic Pollution Working Group is aiming to better understand the issues around plastic pollution while working to develop solutions.