07/25/2022
Currently, around 11 million tons of plastic flow into the oceans each year. That number is projected to nearly triple by 2040. Current commitments by governments and industry will reduce that volume by less than 10 percent over the next two decades. Of the roughly 300 million tons of plastic waste produced each year, only 9 percent is recycled. According to a UNEP assessment, by 2050, plastic production, use, and waste could account for 15 percent of emissions, making it hard to maintain a safe climate without reducing carbon elsewhere, according to a UNEP assessment.
Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP, thought of the most significant environmental multilateral deal since the Paris accord. In a shift from the previous administration, Monica Medina, the U.S. assistant secretary of State for oceans and international environmental affairs, offered support for the plastic treaty earlier this year. Over the next two years, a negotiating committee will outline the contents of a legally binding treaty that will look at all aspects of a plastic’s lifecycle to find ways to reduce plastic pollution across the planet. There is a need for the creation of a finance facility to support the goals of the treaty and ways to monitor progress toward achieving them, including through national action plans. Andersen also pointed out that businesses would have to start getting involved and making such considerations an integral part of business decisions.
But this can be bad news for fossil fuel producers such as Saudi Arabia, who were planning to cut emissions based on a circular economy where hydrocarbons would be reused or recycled. The International Council of Chemical Associations, a group that includes the American Chemistry Council, issued a statement in support of the resolution.
For more information: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/countries-pave-the-way-to-end-plastic-pollution/
The U.N. passed a resolution yesterday to develop a global treaty to control plastic waste
