Scientists call for global treaty to end production of virgin plastic production
International group of scientists call for new plastics non-proliferation treaty that binds governments to ambitious target to phase out virgin plastic
A new article in Science calls for a legally binding global agreement that addresses the entire lifecycle of plastics, from extraction to legacy plastic pollution
The article, written by a team of attorneys and academics, calls for a global treaty to progressively decrease and end the production of virgin plastic by the year 2040. The paper calls for circularity innovation to help eliminate problematic single-use plastics and shift toward refill, reuse, and repair.
The material, which was discovered in 1907, has now become a threat to the environment. Globally, an estimated eight billion tonnes of plastic have been produced since the 1950s.
Nils Simon, one of the report authors calls plastic “ubiquitous” and says that it is prevalent everywhere, from terrestrial environments to inside the human body.
The same properties which make plastic so necessary in the modern world are also the things that endanger the environment.
Jesse Smith, senior editor at Science says that as for most of the new technology, plastic was developed without much thought to its possible effects, but now as the world is faced with the rapidly growing plastic problem “it’s impossible to deny their dark side”.
As per the report, a new global treaty should be drafted to address plastics on both sides of the supply chain, from materials extraction to the legacy pollution left from their use.
Almost half (47 per cent) of plastic waste comes from packaging materials, while 14 per cent is from textiles and 6 per cent comes from transport.
The paper argues that in order to curtail the environmental impact of plastics global co-ordination and long term planning is urgently required.
In February this year the fifth meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) saw many governments speak out in favour of an international agreement to combat plastics pollution.
