A conference of world leaders in Kenya by the United Nations has agreed to join forces in the biggest ever effort to stop the rise in plastic pollution.
The UN Environment Assembly has voted to adopt a resolution that paves the way for a legally binding agreement on plastic pollution by 2024. The vote was unanimous.
Head of the UN Environment Programme, Inger Andersen, said on Wednesday that the plastics treaty would mark a “historic moment”, adding that it would be the most significant environmental pact since the 2015 Paris Agreement.
But she also called for caution: “As we embark on this journey, let us be clear that the agreement will only truly count if it has clear provisions that are legally binding.”
The details of the final treaty remain to be negotiated. However, it could include a ban against the production of new plastic and will consider all aspects of pollution including those found in the ocean and soil.
One-third (33%) of sea turtles killed off Turkey’s Mediterranean Coast by plastic waste
How big of a problem is plastic pollution?
Plastic is one the most useful materials on Earth. Plastic is used in everything, from packaging food to creating the fibers for our clothes. It can be used to build materials and make medical masks.
Plastic can also be destructive to ecosystems and pollute waterways.
In 1950, the world produced almost 2 million tons plastic. The annual plastic production is now more than 200x greater.
A 2017 landmark study found that only 9% had been recycled, and that about 12% of plastics have been burned.
The rest was discarded as litter or in landfills.
Environmental activists built a tunnel out of bottles taken from local rivers to create a plastic museum.
Why is plastic so dangerous?
Plastic’s two most valuable attributes are also its greatest danger: It is both cheap and difficult to break down.
Single-use plastics can be used and thrown away anywhere in the world. Plastic that is ingested into ecosystems doesn’t naturally decompose so it stays there for hundreds upon hundreds of years. It can choke fish and entangle birds, and it can leak toxic substances.
Plastic still slowly dissolves. It is broken down into microplastics, then nanoplastics. The name refers to the size of each plastic. Microplastics can be found in the most remote and unspoiled areas of the planet, including high glaciers, deep oceans, and even food. It is not known what long-term health effects plastics can have on the body or what levels should we consider dangerous.
Plastic can last hundreds of years in the wild if it is not painstakingly collected
How can plastic harm marine life?
Plastic that lands in rivers eventually reaches oceans.
The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), in February, commissioned a study to find that plastic pollution had reached critical levels in regions such as the Mediterranean and East China Sea. The harmful effects of plastics on 88% of 297 species was documented by scientists from Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute.
“We knew it was bad,” stated Heike Vesper, director for WWF Germany’s Marine Program. “But we didn’t know that it was this bad or that it was so grim.”
Plastic waste has been found in deepest parts the ocean.
Even if all plastic pollution were stopped today, the oceans will continue to accumulate more microplastic as larger pieces are broken down.
The researchers looked at the plans of the chemical industry to increase production and estimated that there would be a fourfold increase in ocean plastic concentrations by 2050. They also expect 50-fold increase of microplasticconcentrations by the end of the century.
Petrochemical and fossil fuel industries are closely linked
What does plastic have with climate change
Climate change and plastic pollution are two distinct crises that are interconnected. They share one common cause: the fossil fuel sector.
Plastic is made mostly from chemicals derived from fossil fuels such as crude oil and petroleum. According to the International Energy Agency, petrochemicals are fast becoming the largest driver of global oil consumption, ahead of planes, trucks, and cars.
The Center for International Environmental Law, an environmental advocacy group, estimates that plastic could triple its emissions by 2050.
Edited By: Tamsin W. Walker
