Plastic pollution poses urgent environmental, societal, and health challenges, yet governance remains fragmented. The 2022 UNEA resolution 5/14 offers an opportunity for a legally binding treaty, but negotiations are stalled by geopolitical tensions, entrenched industrial interests, and divergent views on the plastic problem. Effective governance is further constrained by knowledge gaps spanning the entire plastic life cycle. The European Union, as a leading proponent of life-cycle-oriented plastic governance, provides a relevant context to examine these gaps. This paper offers an analysis of critical knowledge gaps that impede effective plastic governance across plastic life cycles. Through a multi-stage process drawing on structured expert input and supporting review of relevant literature, we identify four strategic action areas essential for progress in the European Union: knowledge generation, methodological development, transparency and disclosure, and tracking and traceability. Advancing these areas is important to addressing the urgent and complex challenges posed by plastic pollution.

MADSEN Stine;  BAUER Fredric;  HANSEN Teis;  NILSSON Lars J.;  CARNEY ALMROTH Bethanie;  CULLEN Jonathan M.;  DREYER Elin;  MILIOS Leonidas;  FOGH MORTENSEN Lars;  DAN NIELSEN Tobias;  OLSEN Tara;  SYBERG Kristian;  TUKKER Arnold;  VAN DEN BEUKEN Esther;  VILLARRUBIA-GÓMEZ Patricia; 

2026-08-19

CELL PRESS

JRC143274

2589-0042 (online),   

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004226024430?via%3Dihub,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC143274,   

10.1016/j.isci.2026.117065 (online),