An ambitious global agreement on dealing with plastic waste will be drafted next week at a key meeting.
Inger Andersen, CEO of The united nations The Environment Program (UNEP) has revealed that a global plastics treaty is currently being negotiated in Nairobi.
The treaty “holds the potential and promises to be the biggest multilateral environmental breakthrough” since the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015.
Andersen’s comments follow an OECD study published earlier this week that found that only 9 percent of plastics are currently recycled.
Inger Andersen said the global plastics treaty being negotiated in Nairobi “holds the potential and promises to be the biggest multilateral environmental breakthrough” since the signing of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
Monument to “Close the Plastic Tap” by Canadian activist and artist Benjamin von Wong, using waste extracted from Nairobi’s largest slum, Kibera, stands in front of the UN Environment Program headquarters in Nairobi
The world has a rare opportunity to clean up the planet for future generations by uniting behind an ambitious agreement to tackle plastic waste, the UN chief told the AFP
ONLY 9% OF WORLDLY RECYCLED PLASTICS: OECD
Only 9 percent of the world’s used plastics are recycled, the OECD said on Tuesday.
His report found that 460 million tonnes of plastic were used in 2019, almost doubling since 2000.
The amount of plastic waste has more than doubled in that time to 353 million tonnes, the Paris-based OECD said.
“After taking into account losses during recycling, only nine percent of plastic waste was eventually recycled, while 19 percent was incinerated and almost 50 percent went to landfills,” said Global Plastics Outlook.
“The remaining 22 percent was dumped in uncontrolled landfills, burned in open pits or leaked into the environment.”
The OECD called for “coordinated and global solutions” ahead of the expected negotiations on an international plastics treaty.
They also come before the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, which begins next Monday, February 28, and will run until March 2.
It will bring together representatives of the 193 UN member states, business, civil society and other stakeholders “to agree on policies to address the world’s most pressing environmental challenges”.
The world has a rare opportunity to clean up the planet for future generations by uniting behind an ambitious agreement to tackle plastic waste, Andersen told AFP.
“This is a great moment; it’s for history textbooks, “she said. “We cannot recycle our way out of this mess. It is clear.
“We need to understand that plastic is a part of our lives – we use it in construction, in medicine, in places where we need it. But we also use it in places where we don’t.
Andersen spoke of “closing the plastic tap”, alluding to a striking art installation located in front of UNEP headquarters in Nairobi.
Created by Canadian activist and artist Benjamin von Wong, it includes plastic waste extracted from Nairobi’s largest slum, Kibera, from a huge leaking faucet.
“Stopping the plastic faucet is critical … If you continue to pollute here and clean there, it’s an eternal job,” said Andersen, who was appointed head of UNEP in 2019.
She added that “the world is watching with anxiety, but also with hope”.
“For the first time in history, we are seeing an unprecedented global momentum to tackle plastic pollution.”
The world has a rare opportunity to clean up the planet for future generations by uniting behind an ambitious agreement to tackle plastic waste, the UN chief told the AFP. The photo shows recyclers searching the Richmond Sanitary Depot for material.
The framework for a legally binding agreement on plastics is still being developed ahead of Monday’s UN summit, which begins Monday in Nairobi, where UNEP is headquartered.
Competing proposals are being considered, but more than 50 countries have backed calls for a treaty that includes strict new controls on plastics, which are largely derived from oil and gas.
This may include restrictions on the production of new plastics or the phasing out of disposable products that suffocate oceans and marine life and take centuries to break down.
Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), gives an interview at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi ahead of the Fifth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5)
PLASTIC-SIZED PLASTICS FOUND IN THE PLACE OF SARDINES
Microplastics were found in each individual seafood sample purchased on the market as part of a study.
Researchers cut oysters, shrimps, crabs, squid and sardines and examined them for any signs of microplastic.
It was found that sardines are most affected and have consumed the largest amount of plastic, up to 30 mg per serving – the weight of rice grain.
Microplastics are small particles less than five millimeters (0.2 inches) long. The impact on the health of people who ingest these particles remains a disturbing mystery.
Binding goals and a common framework would ensure a level playing field so that countries and corporations feel confident that they are playing by the same rules, Andersen said.
Many countries, including major plastic producers such as the United States and China, have expressed general support for the treaty, but have not publicly approved any specific measures.
Delegates meeting in Nairobi are expected to agree on a common treaty template and set up a negotiating committee to finalize the terms, a process that will take at least two years.
Andersen said it was too early to speculate on specific details of the contract, but stressed that it was “hopeless” to try to limit plastic waste without talking about the source.
Plastic is found in the deepest parts of the ocean, on the highest mountain peaks, in human organs and on remote and uninhabited islands.
About 400 million tonnes of new plastic are produced each year – a figure that doubles by 2040.
While less than 10 percent of plastic is recycled, the rest is incinerated or dumped on land, where it often ends up in rivers, leaks into the sea and is carried around the world.
Large pieces of plastic are dangerous to marine mammals and birds – but even when the substance is degraded by the action of a sea of microparticles.
These particles, in turn, are absorbed by small organisms and pass up the food chain to fish or mussels, which in turn are eaten by humans.
The Curse of Plastics: The heavily polluted beach in Khan Bay, a densely populated neighborhood of the Senegalese capital Dakar
Special multilateral agreements to tackle biodiversity loss and climate change have been in place for nearly 30 years.
However, there is currently no equivalent to tackling plastic pollution, which is “one of the most common and destructive environmental pollutants that exists”, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). said last month.
UNEP also said earlier this week in a report that extreme forest fires could increase by up to 50 percent by 2100 amid rising global temperatures.
The warming planet and changes in land use mean that more forest fires will burn large parts of the globe in the coming decades, even though our planet is already “flaming”, it says.
EXTREME WILD FIRE MAY INCREASE BY UP TO 50% BY 2100 AMONG RISING GLOBAL TEMPERATURES, UN warns
Extreme forest fires could increase by up to 50 percent by 2100 amid rising global temperatures, warns a new UN study.
IN reportpublished on February 23 by the United Nations Environment Program, finds an increased risk even for the Arctic and other regions that have not previously been affected by forest fires.
The warming planet and changes in land use mean that more forest fires will burn large parts of the globe in the coming decades, even though our planet is already “flaming”, it says.
Global forest fires will lead to jumps in unhealthy smoke pollution and other problems that governments are not prepared to deal with, he added.
Inhalation of forest fire smoke directly causes respiratory and cardiovascular effects and other health problems, especially for the most vulnerable.
The report coincides with wildfires in the Argentine province of Corrientes, devastating nearly 1.98 million acres, and follows forest fires in Boulder County, Colorado, that began in late December.