Plastic pollution is a massive problem, as around 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced yearly
Photo: iStock. World leaders and environment ministers will gather in Paris on May 29, 2023, to negotiate the first legally binding international convention to end plastics pollution. This is the second round of negotiations on a global treaty to end plastic pollution after the Uruguay round held in November 2022.
The Uruguay round created an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, incorporating the UNEA member governments to develop a legally binding agreement on plastic pollution. The document will consider the full life cycle of plastic, provide financial and technical support for countries requesting such assistance and recognise the importance of waste pickers involved in collecting, sorting and recycling.
However, in order to achieve these objectives, science must dominate the upcoming discussions.
Plastic pollution is a massive problem, as around 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced yearly. The production could be doubled by 2040, noted an article published in journal Nature. Only about 9 per cent of all the plastic ever produced is recycled and 12 per cent is incinerated. Almost all other plastic waste has ended up in the ocean or huge landfill sites, it added.
More than 90 per cent of plastics are made from fossil fuels. The UN-mandated Paris Climate Agreement had set a goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. In order to meet this goal, greenhouse gas emissions associated with plastics should be limited to 15 per cent of the total emissions allowable by 2050.
Uncontrolled plastic manufacture and disposal might derail this target. Thus, it is necessary to check and monitor plastic pollution through science-based solutions.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has launched various negotiations for international governance of plastics and associated chemicals. To end plastic pollution and impactful measures, UNEP focuses on identifying gaps in governance and multilateral instruments from the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions.
The UN body highlighted the complementarities and gaps within globally binding multilateral instruments, opportunities to strengthen governance of plastics based on globally agreed principles and approaches, and most importantly, potential mechanisms for closing the governance gaps across the entire life cycle of plastics and associated chemicals in a recently launched report.
Plastic particles are synthesised or produced from raw petroleum products. They are integrated with various chemicals to make them more durable, lightweight, and low-cost and add many other advantages, which now appear as a disadvantage and major concern for healthy ecosystems.
Thus, UNEP focuses on the life cycle phases of plastics and associated chemicals at different phases of extraction, processing and waste management (including collection/sorting and recovery/final disposal operations and remediation). The link between plastic pollution, human health and human rights is clear, as recognised in United Nations Environment Assembly, the report stated.
Another UNEP report, Chemicals in Plastics: A Technical Report, described that chemicals are an integral part of plastics. Chemicals linked to plastics are released in each phase of the plastic life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials through the manufacturing of polymers, and the production and processing of plastic goods, to their usage, recycling and disposal.
Due to the high persistence and widespread presence of plastic in the environment, plastic particles can potentially harm the ecosystem. The technical report intends to enlighten the commonly underestimated chemical-related factors that contribute to plastic pollution, specifically their detrimental effects on human health and the environment, as well as on resource efficiency and circularity.
Exposure to these substances can have serious or long-lasting adverse effects during critical periods of women’s lives and affect subsequent generations. Plastics unavoidably boom due to the breaking down of larger plastics into smaller ones, commonly called microplastics (MP) and nano plastics (NP).
They are key indicators of the plasticine era, widely spread across different ecosystems. MPs and NPs become global stressors due to their inherent physicochemical characteristics and potential impact on ecosystems and humans.
More studies are required to know about the effect of plastics and associated chemical ingestion/consumption/dermal exposure on human health. Trophic transfer of small-sized (MPs and NPs) and other associated additives in the keystone species are a significant concern as it adversely affects the health of these essential functional ecosystems.
Therefore, MPs’ and NPs’ bio transference and persistence along the trophic levels need to be investigated further. Therefore, it is necessary to take action against plastic pollution worldwide.
It is also essential to address the chemicals associated with plastics by:
Addressing the aforementioned priority areas will help to achieve the goals of eradicating plastic pollution, minimising its adverse effects on human health and the environment, promoting resource efficiency and facilitating the shift towards a circular economy that is non-toxic and sustainable.
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