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2023 Annual Trends in Plastics Policy: A Brief

Publication ,  Report
Karasik, R; Vegh, T; Utz, R; Dominguez, A; Skarjune, M; Merlo, J; Dixon, N; Virdin, J
August 31, 2023

In the first annual update of Annual Trends in Plastics Policy, Nicholas Institute researchers find that plastics policy enactment continues to surge and was not negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, researchers found more than 300 additional policies to index in the Plastics Policy Inventory, upon which this report is based, for a total of 894 policies. The 2022 update to the inventory increased the total by more than 50%. However, gaps in scope and implementation remain. Though more policies address additional types of single-use plastics, most still target only plastic bags. Microplastics and marine sources remain relatively unaddressed, and economic instruments are a minority of policy instruments used. To better gauge policy implementation, researchers established a new effectiveness policy library to accompany the 2022 update. These studies indicate that, while underused in existing policy, greater governmental use of economic instruments (e.g., taxes, fees, levies) and information instruments (e.g., awareness campaigns to communicate other instruments to the public, education initiatives, etc.) would aid in enacting effective policies in the future.

Duke Scholars

Publication Date

August 31, 2023

Publisher

Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability
 

Citation

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Karasik, R., Vegh, T., Utz, R., Dominguez, A., Skarjune, M., Merlo, J., … Virdin, J. (2023). 2023 Annual Trends in Plastics Policy: A Brief. Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability.
Karasik, Rachel, Tibor Vegh, Ria Utz, Andrew Dominguez, Melissa Skarjune, Juan Merlo, Natalie Dixon, and John Virdin. “2023 Annual Trends in Plastics Policy: A Brief.” Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, August 31, 2023.
Karasik R, Vegh T, Utz R, Dominguez A, Skarjune M, Merlo J, et al. 2023 Annual Trends in Plastics Policy: A Brief. Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability; 2023 Aug.
Karasik, Rachel, et al. 2023 Annual Trends in Plastics Policy: A Brief. Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability, 31 Aug. 2023.
Karasik R, Vegh T, Utz R, Dominguez A, Skarjune M, Merlo J, Dixon N, Virdin J. 2023 Annual Trends in Plastics Policy: A Brief. Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability; 2023 Aug.

Publication Date

August 31, 2023

Publisher

Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability