Causes.com
| 11.29.22
Negotiations Begin for UN’s Landmark Treaty on Plastics Pollution
Do you want your country to take action against plastics pollution?
What’s the story?
- On Nov. 28, 175 nations started negotiations for a legally binding international treaty on plastic pollution. This comes nearly 30 years after researchers started warning leaders of the threat that global plastics production places on the environment.
- The nations agreed to the treaty in March during a session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi.
- The Nairobi resolution calls for multiple full-life-cycle assessments on plastics, a method used to evaluate the environmental impact of a product throughout its entire lifespan. The agreement will bind countries to action plans at the national, regional, and international levels to work towards preventing, reducing, and eliminating plastic pollution.
- Treaty negotiations are expected to take two to three years. UN secretary-general António Guterres proclaimed this treaty “the most important deal since the Paris Agreement.”
What will the negotiations determine?
- Negotiators are drumming up a team of scientists to help address critical plastic pollution questions. These teams will help the nations determine which types of plastics can be recycled, which can be biodegradable, and which offer the best chances for reuse.
- Experts will use social science research to understand people's relationship with plastics in daily life, allowing the nations to adopt the most realistic solutions for their communities.
- Learning about the role of plastics will help leaders mold their workforce and economy so that people’s livelihoods won’t be threatened by the elimination of the plastic industry.
What is research saying?
- Researchers have been trying to initiate action on plastic pollution for decades. The community has become especially vocal in the past few years as studies show a correlation between human health effects and plastic pollution. Researchers have even discovered that microplastics are making their way into the human body — blood, excrement, cadaver autopsy samples, and even deep in the lungs of living humans.
- The sharp increase in plastic production, dubbed “the plastic wave,” started in 1950 and shows no sign of decline. Between 1950 and 2017, the industry produced 9.2 billion tons of non-recyclable plastics, more than half of which were made in this millennium. Nearly 80% of that waste is in a landfill or the natural environment, while 8% was recycled, and less than 33% is still in use.
- Experts and advocates are fighting against the lack of transparency, greenwashing, and the misinformation spread by the plastic industry, hoping to bring this to light during the negotiations.
Do you want your country to take action against plastic pollution?
-Jamie Epstein
(Photo credit: iStock/Mario De Moya F)
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Plastics are a real threat to our planet and our health. Animals can be killed by plastic, too much plastic can clog up waterways and shipping channels, and we ingest plastic once small particles of it end up in our water.
All countries should work together to stop the proliferation of plastics in our water and land, and I hope the US fully engages in this.
I've been telling people for years that the whole recycling thing with plastics is misleading at best, and an outright lie at worst, but I'll let those who complain the most make my case.
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/new-greenpeace-report-plastic-recycling-is-a-dead-end-street-year-after-year-plastic-recycling-declines-even-as-plastic-waste-increases/
Plastic polution is now everywhere; on the sides of roads, in the fields, swamps, rivers, the atlantic, the pacific, both poles, everywhere now. Its time for a planet wide clean up and the plastic producers need to pay for the effort! Raise taxes on plastics, plastic producers, and plastic imports to pay the cost of the cleanup.
Maybe plastic was just a bad idea looking for a place to happen??
Plastics are projected to double to 1B tons by 2050 and account for 85% of marine litter but only 9% is currently being recycled as it has little value by making producers so a UN Agreement is in process to make manufacturers & distributors of plastics responsible throughout the lifecycle by paying for it with surcharges on polymers, and retailers selling products packaged in plastics buy it back.
This week (11-28-22) 159 countries met to update the previous draft to include the lifecycle of plastics, from production through to innovative packaging, products and business models, from Feb 2022, made by 175 nations, endorsed the UN Environment Assembly resolution to end plastic pollution & signed an international legally binding agreement to ban by the end of 2024. 68 countries already have legislation on single used plastics bags with varying levels of enforcement.
75% of people worldwide (IPSOS poll of 20K people in 28 countries) want single use plastics banned (up from 71% in 2019).
Countries & US states have taken some action in single use plastic bags but more is needed for all plastics.
India joins Canada in banning single use plastics though Canada’s is not in effect until Dec 2022 while India’s went into effect 7-1-22.
8 US states (CA, CT, DE, HI, ME, NY, OR & VT) have banned single-use plastic bags. Cities & Counties have also enacted bans, and some have fees as well. However 1/3rd of US states have pre-emotive bans or limitations preventive health bans on plastic bags.
US Department of the Interior will halt the sale of single-use plastics in national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands, but will not be completely phased in until 2032
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/75-people-want-single-use-plastics-banned-global-survey-finds-2022-02-22/
https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2022-02/Attitudes-towards-single-use-plastics-Feb-2022.pdf
https://www.ncsl.org/research/environment-and-natural-resources/plastic-bag-legislation.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/08/biden-ban-single-use-plastic-national-parks-public-lands
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/08/biden-ban-single-use-plastic-national-parks-public-lands
https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1113142
https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/single-use-plastic-indian-govt-ready-to-face-ban-1968568-2022-06-30
https://www.causes.com/comments/22784
https://www.causes.com/comments/359
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03835-w
I'm not sure we want THE NEW WORLD ORDER making rules for us.
What would you do if Tomorrow they ordered that all fossil fuels could no longer be used or produced. The only sorce of power will be wind and solar.
Would that be ok with you?
Yes, Tell Japan, and China to stop dumping their garbage into the ocean which then ends up on our shores. Beyond that, we have larger problems with you all trying to destroy this country every second then doing worthless things like this.
We must stop our dependence on plastics. I much prefer my food items be stored in glass and metal all which must be recycled. I liked it when we returned bottles to the store for refund.
Plastics pollution is unacceptable. It can be recycled for so many things and it's killing the planet and it's inhabitants! Thanks in advance for anything you can do to change things for the better!
I feel like cracking down on the recycling sector could create jobs, we obviously need to re-build revamp how recycling works right now. create jobs and figure out how we and businesses can be better and actally recycle all this plastic.
Plastics are the Bane of our Planet!
Plastics are Pollution..the Worst Pollution!!
Plastics are in our landfills,water,food and It's inside our Animals!
It's modified our landscapes and homes for Worse!
It's modified our bodies I'm bad ways such as diseases.
Plastics have done very evil things while we are unawares.But out of all It's Evil purposes, you can rest assured that 1% of us got Filthy rich with egos to match
Future generations will thank us for this..!!! What a mess we're allowing this to happen. It's so heartbreaking that we are destroying our beautiful planet and so many species are being wiped out by our inaction to control our environments!!
If we want to have a habitable planet for our children, we need to stop single-use plastic!
we can't recycle our way out of the climate disaster. plastic producers need to be held accountable for the destruction of our planet. and the production of single use plastics drasticly curtailed, if not stopped outright.
we, humans on Earth, now all have micro plastics in our blood. I never agreed to that, did you? if an individual poisons you, its attempted murder, but when the plastic industry does it-nothing!?! no class action lawsuit?!?!
Congress should pass a tax on all bottled water products which would exclusively be allocated for plastic cleanup. People can also do their part by not purchasing bottled water in the first place! Purchase a filter for your tap water instead.
Enact legislation curbing the proliferation of plastics and force producers to only make products that can truly be recycled.
I want all the industries that created and distributed plastics to clean them all out! Like all giant industries, wealth and money are their first priority.
Humanity is not a concern for giant industries and pharmaceutical companies, governments here and around the globe and politicians who we elect. Everything in life is just one big selfish dirty game on humanity.
How much power and how much money can those at the top and those who are greedy to get to their top are all that matter in life!
We are all victims of our own humanity!
Plastic pollution is more devastating than most Americans realize.
This is a no brainer! Components of plastic are cancer causing agents. Yet more plastic is constantly being introduced to our environment in many forms. Once introduced, it becomes a continuous poison.
CAUSES ASKS: "Do you want your country to take action against plastic pollution?" ME: You bet I do! Simple: Plastic is destoying wildlife, polluting the oceans, and ending up in us. It uglifies the world, overloads landfills, and contributes to global warming ("The source substances of polyethylene vary, but are almost always some form of fossil fuel. Both petroleum and natural gas are common sources and vital ingredients in almost all plastic bags [and most other plastics as well] available today." https://sciencing.com/materials-used-making-plastic-bags-5267902.html )
Of course!
This problem is a human problem. As it is caused by persons inconsiderate of others and the enviroment. It is caused by lazyness to control this problem. We need to find a way that makes it profitable to some how recycle this trash or/and transform it. people and business need to be severely fined for causing this problem or trash.
I grew up in an age before plastic when we recycled glass bottles. Hemp was illegal. Now is to utilize this versatile, cheap resource to protect our environment. It grows fast without fertilizer or pesticides. It can replace water draining cotton for textiles. It can replace plastic. It can save trees by replacing paper products and building materials. It is even high in protein as a food additive.
This is an an easy way to protect our environment and end plastic pollution because hemp is biodegradable too.
Forget your contributions from oil companies and Monsanto and don't give monsanto a patent.
We need to have much larger destinations for all this plastic in our communities. I keep asking where is it and they all keep saying it is full!
The old white politicians need to listen to millennials and gen z since they care about climate change
Join the rest of the world don't do it alone.