“The solution lies upstream in the life cycle of plastics, i.e. in production and consumption,” emphasizes Sabine Roux de Bézieux as 170 countries meet in Kenya this week to work out a treaty to end this pollution.
“Since the 1960s, the world population has doubled, plastic consumption has increased by 40%,” warned Sabine Roux de Bézieux, president of the Fondation de la Mer, on France Inter on Monday, November 13, before the start of negotiations for a binding one global agreement to end plastic pollution. Representatives from more than 170 countries, including France, will meet in Nairobi, Kenya, at the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Program until Sunday, November 19.
Today, plastic consumption worldwide is reaching new heights. “We consume 60 kilos per year per resident,” remembers Sabine Roux de Bézieux, who points out the high weight of Europeans in the balance sheet. They consume 120 kg of plastic every year and per capita, while Americans, who have “built their way of life on it,” consume 240 kg, “four times more than the average inhabitant of the planet,” emphasizes the president of the Fondation de la Mer.
“If we don’t stop this crazy curve, the OECD predicts [Organisation de C oopération et de Développement Économiques] Tell us that in 2050 we will produce 1.2 billion tons of plastic per year,” warns Sabine Roux de Bézieux. The president of the Fondation de la Mer specifies that this plastic “we roughly know.” [le] in Europe”, but that “at a global level we recycle 9% of plastic production”, i.e. “22% that ends up in nature”.
Fight for a binding contract
This third session of international discussions on plastic aims to “get to the heart of the issue of plastic throughout its life cycle, from production to end-of-life management, in order to combat environmental pollution,” explains Sabine Roux de Bézieux. The president of the Fondation de la Mer believes that today “the solution lies in the life cycle of plastic, that is, in its production and consumption”.
The challenge of this international summit will be to convince countries that do not allow restrictions, such as Saudi Arabia, “a producing country that was largely involved in blocking the talks in June,” emphasizes Sabine Roux de Bézieux. At the time, “we were all very worried because the negotiations had stalled for days, but when we saw the zero version of the draft contract, we were reassured,” says the president of the Meer Foundation.
She assures: “France is one of the countries that has joined an ambitious coalition launched by Rwanda, which five years ago was one of the first countries in the world to ban plastic bags.” [comme le Kenya]. “The ambition is very high,” and “all the NGOs and foundations, we are fighting for it” so that the treaty is “binding,” says Sabine Roux de Bézieux, otherwise “we will continue to have pollution everywhere in our country.” Oceans.