Type of material: Comprehensive and practical toolkit designed to help countries, regions, and cities address the growing challenge of plastic pollution. It combines a robust methodological framework with user-friendly tools and templates to enable evidence-based decision-making.
 

Target audience: Primarily designed for national governments, policymakers, and decision-makers at sub-national and local levels. Stakeholders from the private sector, academia, and NGOs can also use and benefit from the Guidance to support its application and leverage its results.
 

Content: The National Guidance for Plastic Pollution Hotspotting and Shaping Action provides a structured methodology to identify plastic leakage hotspots, analyze their impacts across the plastic value chain, and prioritize effective interventions to address these issues. The materials include a detailed report, nine technical modules and additional interactive tools and templates.

Type of material:  Research and regulatory analysis report.

Target audience:  Government and environmental agencies, environmental organisations, law firms, and policy stakeholders.

Content: The study analyses international and national regulations on circular economy and extended producer responsibility, focusing on plastic packaging and single-use plastics in Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Germany, and the Netherlands. It compares the frameworks and provides recommendations to strengthen Costa Rica's policy. To be carried out between November 2022 and January 2023.

Type of material: Lesson plans and activities for middle school students.

Target audience: Educators and learners of the middle and secondary school level between the ages of 10-15. The material can also be used by non-formal educators including those working in NGOs, aquariums, coastal parks, etc.

Content: The “Know Feel Act! To Stop Marine Litter” material has been prepared to inform, sensitise and enable European teachers and students to take action to tackle the problem of litter. It  contains 17 learning activities examining the characteristics, sources, effects and possible ways to tackle the problem, addressing it from an environmental, societal, cultural and economic point of view.

Type of material:  A 15-lesson curriculum focused on marine debris sources, impacts, and solutions.

Target audience: The curriculum is designed to be appropriate for multiple grade levels.

Content: Plastic Pollution and You, published by New York Sea Grant contains hands-on lessons and activities that help students learn the different types of plastics, their impact on marine and freshwater ecosystems, and teaches about ways to address and prevent plastic pollution. Interdisciplinary elements of this curriculum include policy research, environmental justice, and effective outreach and communication strategies.

Type of material: A learning guide on marine debris.

Target audience: Educators, students and parents. 

Content: Turning the Tide on Trash - A Learning Guide on Marine Debris is an interdisciplinary guide designed to provide maximum flexibility in the classroom. The guide can be used as a standalone teaching tool, or individual activities within the guide may be used to supplement work in other subject areas.

Type of material: Interactive online maps.

Target audience:  Makes scientific studies accessible to all persons, media, researchers and interested parties.

Content: LITTERBASE  comprises 1,426 scientific publications on the amount, distribution and composition of litter in the ocean and other watercourses. There are two global maps to explore: One about the distribution of litter types in different realms. The other one about the interactions between aquatic life and marine litter.

Type of material: Resource collection of videos and articles around the topic of Marine Plastic Pollution compiled by National Geographic. 

Target audience:  For children from 5th to 12th grade, educators and adults. 

Content: Material for inside and outside the classroom, giving an overview of the plastics issue with a focus on marine pollution. 

Type of material: 16 min long youtube repotage by The Economist about the plastic pollution problem. 

Target audience: Students, adults, people who want to learn about the causes of marine pollution.

Content: The video gives an introduction to plastic pollution with an emphasis on small island states. It also takes about possible solutions and the global plastics treaty. 

Type of material: Scientific article and summary about marine litter. 

Target audience: Scientists and the general public. 

Content: This scientific review provides a current summary of the major sources and distribution of ocean plastic contamination, their potential environmental effects, and prospects towards the mitigation of plastic pollution. A characterization between micro, macro and nano plastics is made, along with a comprehensive discussion of the most common plastic waste sources that end up in aquatic environments within these categories. 

Type of material: Marine Litter education package.

Target audience: Educators and pupils in elementary school. 

Content: Three educational lessons on the basics about marine litter for young children, developed by CleanAtlantic with a focus on the United Kingdom. 

Type of material: Report by the WWF.

Target audience: Policy makers, public officials, the media and the general public.

Content: This report commissioned by WWF provides the most comprehensive account to date of the extent to which plastic pollution is affecting the global ocean, the impacts it’s having on marine species and ecosystems, and how these trends are likely to develop in future. Created by the researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), it reveals a serious and rapidly worsening situation that demands immediate and concerted international action.

Type of material: Manual for implementing the less plastic guide.

Target audience: Actors from the tourism sector.

Content: The purpose of the Guide is to provide a tool that guides, accompanies, and supports decision-making to assist organizations in the tourism sector in transitioning towards the prevention of plastic consumption and improved management of plastic products.
 

Type of material: EPR toolbox. 

Target audience: Policy makers, NGOs, people who want to learn about EPR.

Content: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a key concept for "closing the loop" in the packaging value chain. The EPR Toolbox is a compilation of internationally relevant knowledge on the topic of EPR for packaging. It aims to promote the exchange of knowledge and enhance the development of EPR systems worldwide. The EPR Toolbox contains detailed training material on EPR, practical country examples and a series of frequently asked questions.

Type of material: This material highlights the shift in ocean literacy programs from STEM education to UNESCO's Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) framework.

Target audience: Programs for all formal educational levels from the primary school to the university 
level as well as for non-formal learners.

Content: This publication covers the history and development of ocean literacy, detailing its framework and principles, and highlighting the shift towards integrating UNESCO's Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in ocean literacy programs. It includes professional insights, challenges, and successful strategies for marine education, and provides adaptable activities for implementing marine education initiatives globally.