A global plastic treaty on cards?

Plastic pollution is one of the key concerns for the entire globe at the moment.  Something that started as a symbol of progress a few decades ago is out in the open as a killer that the humans find very difficult to control. It’s a menace from top to toe, from the production stage to the use through disposal – the entire lifecycle.

Working with youths on environmental issues has made me interact with many enterprising and enthusiastic ones.  They speak in a sense of victory when they collect loads of wastes littered near water bodies, inside forests and many other places by people who don’t care about managing their own wastes.  The sad part of this story is: these materials, most of which is plastic wastes, are collected in huge plastic bags to be disposed of in municipal landfills which are not properly managed. The happiness gathered in collecting pollutants at the source turns into a sad story when these wastes end up polluting the destination: our soil, air and waterbodies at a different place. 

While these youths and others who are engaged in clean-up actions are champions beyond doubt, the fact that there are no global regulations to end plastic pollution by the manufacturers is going to make it difficult for ending this menace.  Plastic needs to be controlled from the source to the point of use: locally, nationally and globally. 

Out of bounds

Plastic pollution is one of the key concerns for the entire globe at the moment.  Something that started as a symbol of progress a few decades ago is out in the open as a killer that the humans find very difficult to control. It’s a menace from top to toe, from the production stage to the use through disposal – the entire lifecycle.

In fact, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) informs that the rate of plastic production has grown faster than any other material since the 1950s.  It’s worrying as more than 99 percent of plastics are produced from chemicals derived from dreaded climate culprits: oil, natural gas and coal. 

Plastic production is expected to triple by 2050. This is concerning for the fact that 75 percent of all plastic ever produced has become waste. In fact, the world adds up plastics waste at an annual rate of 303 million tonnes. 

The growth of single-use plastic use has been of grave concern among all. Besides the solid plastic looking products we also have a huge load of micro plastic that gets added into the volume that’s produced, used and discharged into environment and human bodies. Only 9 percent of all the plastic waste has so far been recycled and about 12 percent incinerated. While both the recycled and incinerated plastic wastes also create some pollution loads, the fact that 79 percent of the waste has been accumulated in landfills, dumps or the natural environment is a matter of big concern. Most of these go on to pollute our water bodies including the oceans. 

It’s raining plastic everywhere

From the pond in your neighbourhood to the river in your city to the oceans and mountains, plastic pollution has reached everywhere on this earth. 

Plastic is in the rain, in our food, in our drinking water and even in human placenta!

Every year the oceans receive at least 14 million tonnes of plastic, which may go up to 32 million tonnes by 2040.  With this speed the oceans may actually have more plastic than fish by 2050.   Plastic debris is currently the most abundant type of litter in the ocean, making up 80 percent of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep-sea sediments. While many of our conservationists and other activists are engaged in cleaning up shorelines and tourist places, the biodiversity inside the oceans are chocking with plastic wastes that most often originate inlands. 

Due to our waste management failure at each level, starting from our homes to industries to urban governance levels, the plastic debris end up in our water bodies including the oceans. Heart-breaking images of marine species being entangled and/or chocked by plastic debris including face masks and PPE kits – thrown out during the COVID pandemic – have made headlines all over. It is estimated that plastic pollution kills 100,000 marine mammals every year. Fishing industry, nautical activities and aquaculture are some of the sources of ocean-based plastic pollution.

So, even as we clean the shorelines and picnic spots near water bodies, our storm water drains, sewer overflows and littering almost everywhere takes these plastic loads through our rivers to the oceans killing millions of species and impacting the ocean biodiversity in many other ways besides affecting the inland environment in numerous ways.  Many often we don’t even know that we are polluting our water bodies with plastic with the types of materials we use and dispose so easily. Take for example, cigarette butts. A recent global survey found out that cigarette butts – whose filters contain tiny plastic fibres – were the most common type of plastic waste found in the environment. 

Rivers carry plastic pollution to the oceans

Here, in this column, we had written in 2018, about a study by researchers from the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ of Germany that had found out that the mismanaged plastic wastes generated in the river catchments are finding their way to the seas. The debris of plastic waste that they studied include both micro plastic (particles less than 5 mm) and macro plastic (particles less than5 mm).  In this global study of plastic wastes across a wide range of river sizes, analysis of data by the researchers found out that large rivers with population-rich catchments are responsible for delivering a disproportionately higher fraction of mismanaged plastic wastes into the sea.

The study concluded that the 10 top-ranked rivers transport 88–95 percent of the global load into the sea, and eight of them are in Asia.  The rest two are from Africa. The study, that analysed data from 79 sampling sites along 57 rivers, found out that 5 trillion pounds of plastic is floating in the seas. It claimed that targeting the most polluted rivers could halve the plastic burden of all the seas, even though that might not end the harm that micro plastic is already doing to marine life.

All eyes at Nairobi

Between 28 February and 2 March this year, at the fifty session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) , scheduled at Nairobi, this issue may be a major point of discussion.  There has been constant demand from across the globe, from governments as well as others, for a binding treaty – something like the Montreal Protocol – to address the plastic challenge. It could result in a mandate for an International Negotiating Committee to work out a legally binding agreement that makes it mandatory for nations to reduce plastic pollution going into the oceans. Such a treaty could pave ways for national targets and plans for reduction, recycling and management of plastic. 

While about 100 nation states seem to have pushed for such a binding global treaty, over 740 groups belonging to all walks of the society from 113 countries have called for – in December 2021 – for such a treaty during the Nairobi assembly. 

Such a treaty was not possible earlier because of reluctance of the USA and due to pressure from industries. However, things are starting to change and there is growing realisation that we cannot ignore the plastic menace any further.  The USA, industries and others have seemingly reversed their opposition. 

In May 2021, Peru and Rwanda announced their intention to establish an intergovernmental negotiating committee to begin the process of developing the framework to attain “sustainable levels of plastic production and consumption” at UNEA 5.2. Further, more recently, 81 countries have signed a declaration saying “Guided by the long-term ambition of eliminating all discharge of plastic litter into the oceans, agreed by the United Nations Environment Assembly resolution 3/7 and Sustainable Development Goal 14.1 “by 2025, to prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution“, we believe that there is a need for a stronger global response for the effective implementation of measures to reach this goal”.

With the recent developments, the world finally sees some hope in beginning of regulations in tackling the plastic menace, that’s also responsible for a huge amount of global greenhouse gas emissions.  Being able to take concrete steps to tackle plastic pollution would not only mean achieving the Sustainable Development Goals but also climate goals.  Most importantly, our freshwater and marine water resources, their related biodiversity and communities would hugely benefit from such a treaty.

This article was first published in Urban Update and has been republished with authors permission