What on earth to do about all the plastic polluting the oceans, the food supply, even our bodies?
What on earth to do about all the plastic polluting the oceans, the food supply, even our bodies?
That is the question that the delegates from 175 countries are trying to answer this week in Busan, South Korea, where the fifth and final round of negotiations are underway for a United Nations-led treaty that would regulate the full life cycle of plastic, including production, design and disposal.
Many hoped the initiative, which began two years ago, would result in the most consequential environmental accord since the Paris climate agreement in 2016.
Yet over the course of four rounds of talks, sharp divisions emerged, stirring concern that the session in Busan will end with a watered-down treaty far removed from those ambitious goals.
The biggest disagreements center on whether the treaty should focus on reducing overall plastic production or whether it is sufficient simply to improve recycling practices.
Meanwhile, the commitment of the U.S., which is one of the world’s top producers of plastic waste, has been cast into doubt after the outcome of the presidential election.
Even before the meeting began Monday, South Korean Environment Minister Kim Wan-sup was trying to dial back expectations, telling reporters: « I believe it may be more realistic to pursue stepwise measures. »
Here is what you need to know about the problem and the efforts to solve it:
Few disagree that the level of pollution has reached alarming heights.
Between 2000 and 2019, annual production of plastics doubled to 460 million tons. It is expected to reach 736 million tons by 2040, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Very little of the world’s plastic waste—about half of which comes from single-use plastics such as packaging, straws and disposable utensils—is recycled. Just 9% of the 353 million tons of plastic discarded in 2019 was recycled.
That figure is even lower in the U.S., where each person generates an average of 487 pounds of plastic waste each year: Just 4% was recycled in 2019, with the majority incinerated or dumped in landfills.
Because it does not biodegrade, much of the plastic we throw away ends up leaking into the environment as microplastics, tiny particles less than 5 millimeters in size that have been found in water, food and even in human placentas.
