The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will establish a Roundtable on Plastics that will provide a forum for examining issues associated with national efforts to reduce plastic pollution.
The Roundtable will be a venue for federal agencies and cross-disciplinary experts in academia, industry, and non-governmental organizations to discuss priorities for future research initiatives and promising avenues for averting the stream of plastics into the environment. The Roundtable will cover all aspects of the plastics lifecycle and examine potential interventions in the following areas:

Plastics Production and Waste Management

Focus on improvements in areas where plastics are mainly within industrial, commercial, and consumer control.

• Production. This topic will include supply chain and feedstock considerations, strategies to reduce virgin plastic use, and other aspects of manufacturing that could improve sustainability and reduce waste.
• Material and Product Design. This topic will center on innovative materials and design considerations; whether co-design for recyclability and the circular economy, or reducing impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions and health effects. This includes discussions of standards and definitions for biodegradability and design for reuse.
• Waste Generation and Management. This topic will consider methods of minimizing plastic waste generation through management and potential reincorporation into feedstock for a circular economy of plastics.

o Collection. Access to and incentives for collection services and addressing consumer confusion over disposal of recyclable goods.

o Sorting Technologies. Handling of complex materials as well as ensuring access to sorting facilities.

o Recycling Technologies. Challenges of recycling, both chemical and mechanical, and management of contaminants.

Environment and Health Impacts.

Highlight critical impacts on the environment and health posed by plastic pollution and intervention strategies.

• Human Health Impacts. This topic will address emerging concerns about potential human exposures to plastic waste and toxic components as well as environmental justice concerns for exposure to pollution from production, recycling, and disposal facilities.
• Plastic Waste in the Environment. This topic will focus on methods to reduce leakage, facilitate re-capture, and prevent waste from contaminating land and waterways, including approaches to prevent direct discharge of waste into the ocean such as microplastics and abandonment of fishing gear.

Data Collection/Management/Modeling. Information on all stages of the plastic life cycle and metrics on effectiveness of intervention methods will be needed to evaluate overall success in reducing plastic pollution. This may include commentary on modeling approaches to evaluate and compare proposed waste reduction strategies.

By convening the various sectors and experts from each step in the plastics lifecycle, the National Academies will address the complexity and diversity of issues in reducing plastic waste and catalyze the development of innovative solutions to the plastic pollution and waste problem. The goal will be to explore and advance systemic solutions and interventions across each stage of the life cycle that can reduce impacts in the short term and minimize accumulation of plastic waste into the environment over the long term.