Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Plastics News
Subscribe
  • Login
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • News
    • Recycling
    • Sustainability
    • Bioplastics
    • Technology & Materials
    • Injection Moulding
    • Blow Moulding
    • Extrusion
    • Thermoforming
    • 3D printing
    • Technology
    • Materials
    • Machinery
  • Opinion
    • View Point
  • Events
    • Our Exhibitions
    • Plastics Industry Awards (PIA)
    • Ask the Expert
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • Plastics News Europe Live Archives
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Reuters Responsible Business Europe 2022
    • Plastics Recycling Show Europe
  • Prices & Resources
    • Polymer Prices
    • Data Reports
    • Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Media Pack
  • Subscribe
  • Digital magazine
    • Digital Magazine
  • Multimedia
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
July 06, 2021 11:59 AM

Academics, attorneys call for a full life cycle approach to the plastic pollution crisis

Sustainable Plastics
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    Illustration: Sam Falconer

    Detail from the cover of Science, 02 July 2021, VOL 373, ISSUE 6550

    Attempts to regulate plastic through regional or piecemeal approaches are ultimately insufficient to address the scale and projected expansion of the industry. Instead, a team of attorneys and academics argue in an article that appeared 2 July in Science, that the starting point for curbing the plastic pollution crisis is the adoption of an internationally binding agreement  - a treaty - across the entire life cycle.

    Recent studies demonstrate both the magnitude and the transboundary nature of the crisis, with plastic appearing in ecosystems, the atmosphere, and throughout the human body, while analyses reveal social, environmental, and economic impacts from extraction of raw materials to legacy plastic pollution.

    As the authors write: “Targeting the full life cycle of plastics allows for a more equitable distribution of the costs and benefits of relevant actions across the global value chain.”

    Giulia Carlini, Senior Attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and one of the article co-authors, stressed that even though researchers agree that there is still more to discover in terms of the full range of impacts from plastic, there is no time to waste. 

    A treaty, she continued, would be a push for stakeholders to re-envision and re-design entire systems in a manner that works for health and the environment, and respects human rights.

    The key goals of such a treaty have been set out in the article and include, among others,  minimising virgin plastics production and consumption using an agreement to progressively decrease the global production allowance. Production and consumption should be phased out by 2040, with recycled content becoming the standard, with limited exceptions.

    It is also essential to facilitate safe circularity of plastics by incentivising design for recycling, improving recycling rates, and fostering recycled content. The process would include eliminating hazardous substances, providing health benefits to consumers and ecosystems while transforming the entire plastics value chain.

    Moreover, plastic pollution in the environment must be eliminated, which means addressing the plastics that have already accumulated in the environment and preventing those already in use from ending up in the environment. To meet the goal, there must be a scaling up of existent national and regional-level instruments.

    Solutions must be developed that are commensurate with plastic’s role in contributing to the climate crisis, recognising that if plastic production continues at its anticipated pace, the increase in virgin plastics production will consume 10 to 13% of the remaining global carbon budget to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5°C.        

    Illustration: Sam Falconer

    The article appears after a February 2021 United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), where more than 40 countries spoke in favour of establishing an international agreement. Since then, two countries — Peru and Rwanda — have announced their intention to establish an intergovernmental negotiating committee to begin the process of developing the framework at UNEA in February 2022. Another 79 countries have signed the Oceans Day Plastics Pollution Declaration calling for a stronger global response for the effective implementation of measures to reach the 2017 goal formulated by the UN Environment Assembly of the UN Environment. Programme to prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, by 2025.

    “The current international and regional frameworks used to regulate plastic amount to a patchwork system with considerable gaps, as evidenced by recent research into the continuing increase of the presence of plastics across the environment and in our bodies,” said David Azoulay, programme director of the Environmental Health at CIEL and article co-author. “For an agreement, such as a treaty, to work as intended, it must be designed in such a way that it complements and fills in gaps in the existing framework while including all relevant stakeholders across the supply chain.” 

    He noted that awareness about the plastic crisis has never been so high. “The world needs a treaty to support and unify regional and national initiatives. This is a historic opportunity to align political decisions with what science tells us is necessary. There is no excuse for further delays to negotiations.”

    Newsletters
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Sustainable Plastics' news delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    SUBSCRIBE
    Sustainable Plastics Media Kit Cover

    Subscriptions to Sustainable Plastics, the leading Pan-European magazine for the circular plastics industry.

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter

    "In a changing world, Sustainable Plastics is a constant: a platform the plastics industry can rely on to deliver the news and knowhow impacting the industry going forward”

    Contact Us

    11 Ironmonger Lane, EC2V 8EY
    United Kingdom 
     

    Customer Service:
    1-313-446-0450

    [email protected]

     

    Resources
    • Advertise
    • Sitemap
    • Careers
    • Subscribe
    Affiliates
    • Plastics News
    • LSR World
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Tire Business
    • Rubber News
    • Automotive News
    • Automotive News Europe
    • Crain Publications
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Recycling
      • Sustainability
      • Bioplastics
      • Technology & Materials
        • Injection Moulding
        • Blow Moulding
        • Extrusion
        • Thermoforming
        • 3D printing
        • Technology
        • Materials
        • Machinery
    • Opinion
      • View Point
    • Events
      • Our Exhibitions
        • Plastics Recycling Show Europe
      • Plastics Industry Awards (PIA)
      • Ask the Expert
      • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • Plastics News Europe Live Archives
      • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Reuters Responsible Business Europe 2022
    • Prices & Resources
      • Polymer Prices
      • Data Reports
      • Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
    • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Media Pack
    • Subscribe
    • Digital magazine
      • Digital Magazine
    • Multimedia