About Plastiverse – Our Mission, Community, and How to Get Involved

Our Mission & Vision

Plastiverse’s mission is to connect, curate, and advance global knowledge on plastic pollution by providing an open, community-driven platform for sharing tools, data, methods, standards, and insights across the full plastics lifecycle. We aim to support researchers, practitioners, policymakers, educators, and communities by making high-quality, evidence-based resources more visible, accessible, and interoperable—accelerating progress from data generation to informed decision-making and action.

Plastiverse envisions a future where plastic pollution research and solutions are transparent, collaborative, and globally connected. By serving as a trusted hub for scientific, technical, and policy-relevant resources, we seek to break down silos between disciplines, regions, and sectors—empowering stakeholders at all levels to better understand plastic pollution, evaluate risks and interventions, and contribute to effective, science-based solution.

What We Offer – Tools, Data & Collaboration

We are committed to making science open and accessible to reduce institutional, economic, and logistical barriers against researching, understanding, and addressing plastic pollution globally.

This project operates entirely through free, and open community cooperation. Accordingly, we do not accept funding from any sources (advertisting, grants, donations, etc.). Work done on this project is exclusively done through volunteer time of the project creators, who also self-finance the web hosting fees in order to provide a resource which is free from financial influences or incentives.

The Plastiverse TEam

Six friends and colleagues founded the Plastiverse.

Due to our international spread, all of us have yet to meet in person!

Four out of six of us met this Spring in Southern California.

(L->R; Win Cowger, Kara Wiggin, Leah Thornton-Hampton, Scott Coffin).
Not shown here: Orestis Herodotou and Cleo Stratmann.

Contact & Connect with Plastiverse

Have ideas, feedback, or contributions for Plastiverse? We’d love to hear from you. Whether you’re a researcher, practitioner, educator, or community member — your perspective helps shape this shared plastic-pollution resource.

Get in Touch

Would you like to contribute or collaborate?

We welcome contributions of new tools, data sets, methods, case studies, or events. You can also help by participating in discussions, sharing resources, or helping us improve coverage in under-represented regions or topics. Use the contact email above or reach out via social media.

Stay Updated

Subscribe to our newsletter (if available) or follow our blog — we regularly post updates on new tools, methodologies, community events, and research breakthroughs in plastics science.

Need Support?

If you’re having trouble navigating the site, locating a resource, or submitting content — please let us know. We’ll aim to respond promptly and help you find what you need.