Plastic Not So Fantastic
Heatwaves, floods, pandemic, war... and that's just this week. With all the bleak news dominating the headlines, it’s refreshing (and necessary) to acknowledge when something good happens.
Written by Victoria Kent, Senior Investment Specialist
Photo by Efe Kurnaz on Unsplash
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Recently, the world celebrated a milestone achievement: a "triumph by planet Earth over single-use plastics” in fact.
Heads of State, environment ministers and other representatives from 175 nations, endorsed a historic resolution at the UN Environment Assembly to end plastic pollution, and forge an international legally binding agreement by the end of 2024.
In an era of global political disfunction, it's nice to see multilateral cooperation on display.
This is the world's first global plastic pollution treaty. It aims to drastically reduce the volume of plastic in our world. The treaty has been described by some as: "the most significant environmental deal since the 2015 Paris climate agreement."
It will create a legally binding set of protocols restricting companies who manufacture plastic, as well as the consumer goods companies using single-use packaging.
Why now?
The resolution notes with concern that the high and rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution represent a serious environmental problem at a global scale, negatively impacting the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development.
The stats are pretty alarming; approximately 7 billion of the estimated 9.2 billion tonnes of plastics produced between 1950 and 2017 are now waste. About 75% of that waste is either deposited in landfills or accumulating in terrestrial and aquatic environments and ecosystems.
The resolution also includes the recognition of microplastics, those small plastic pieces less than five millimetres long which can be particularly harmful to our oceans and aquatic life.
Of course, the world has been tackling plastic waste for years – on a consumer level, environmental organisational level and even (most recently) at a country level (thanks NZ).
I've personally been watching the gang at Ocean Clean Up Project with interest. From humble crowd-funded beginnings, their goal is to clean up 90% of the world’s floating ocean plastic by 2040.
They do this by using technology to monitor plastic density in the ocean, and are currently doing some amazing work in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and rivers around the world.
They are also using AI to monitor plastic density in the oceans.
But a complex problem requires a multifaceted solution. Currently, there are a wide range of approaches and organisations, as well various sustainable alternatives and technologies, to address the full lifecycle of plastics.
This further highlights the need for enhanced international collaboration to facilitate access to technology, capacity building, and scientific and technical cooperation - here's hoping the treaty can do just that.
Another important feature of the treaty will be minimizing plastic waste production in the first place. It will promote sustainable design of products and materials so that they can be reused, remanufactured or recycled, and therefore retained in the economy for as long as possible along with the resources they are made of.
The treaty is not due to be finalised until 2024, so there is some way to go before we see any drastic changes. But hey, let’s take this one as a win and celebrate.