Plastics are everywhere. From the bottles in vending machines to the cutlery that comes with takeout, it can be hard to avoid these single-use items. Many are working to cut back on this use, including academics.
Maria Ivanova, director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, served as the academic voice in New York City during Climate Week in September. She participated in the first roundtable of the End Plastic Pollution International Collaborative, a new $15 million public-private partnership helping countries reevaluate their plastic use and encouraging them to create and adopt informed policies for addressing this use.
Doing so aligns with Ivanova’s work improving global governance, especially when it comes to plastics. She’s spent her career working on global environmental governance, including having served as a member of the Rwanda delegation to the United Nations Environment Assembly with the hope of creating an international treaty to end plastic pollution. Over the summer, she attended a weeklong summit in Paris addressing the plastics crisis.
