The UN wants to drastically reduce plastic pollution by 2040. Here’s how

Inger Andersen:
Let’s think about it, we liquefy a lot of stuff that in just 20 years ago was not liquid, let’s take soap for laundry detergent, it’s largely liquid, certainly in the U.S. market, it used to be powder, and therefore it could be transported in a carton box. Let’s think about soap that we wash our hands with it used to be in a bar. And now we need the convenience of one pump.We have to ask ourselves if all that is worth it, when we understand that that liquid application of the product for our convenience, yes, but it is very, very inconvenient for the environment. So, we need to rethink and redesign the products themselves. We need to make sure that we minimize that wasteful single use plastic bag that we’re going to be using for 10 minutes as we carry five tomatoes home from the store.And then thereafter, depending on the kind of polymer it could be between 100 and 1,000 years in the landfill. That’s just not very efficient use of a scarce resource.But I think that there are certainly industry leaders that are saying, look, this is actually something that if we don’t get it right, it detracts from our shareholder value. And it detracts from the pride that our workers have in this product if it’s fobbing out around in the in the ocean. This is not good for business, it’s not good for the brand. So let’s find solutions to it.

First ‘plastic rain' weather forecast predicts 50 kg of microplastics

Representational image (NOAA)Take it from us, weather forecasting can be a tricky business. Even after rummaging through all the analyses available to derive our inferences daily, there’s always a chance that things will still go differently than predicted.And now, even though we’re still getting used to the indecisive whims of meteorological phenomena, weather forecasters have started adding another factor to their daily forecasts: plastic rain.In 2022, a study made quite the news splash after it confirmed that a colossal amount of microplastics were sprinkling down on New Zealand and the US. We’ve already been aware that these plastic contaminants can make their way inside our bodies, potentially leading to cancer risk and other health and reproductive problems.While we don’t know for certain if someone modified the rain dance to somehow add plastic, there is no doubt that this dangerous phenomenon is prevalent worldwide now. And thus, Paris has begun taking steps to tackle the potential risks associated with it.The French capital will experience billions of microplastic rain during the five-day plastic treaty international discussion on Monday (May 29), their first-ever plastic pollution weather forecast predicts.According to the report, the city will experience about 40-48 kilograms of free-floating plastic bits daily. Scientists warn that this number could skyrocket — even tenfold! — if the rain becomes heavy.Most of these microplastics have originated from nylon and polyester, the researchers reckon. Clothing and tyre bits are the most likely suspects. On an especially windy day, these can make their way inside our bodies through inhalation or ingestion.Advertisement”In our bodies, the plastics we need to be most worried about are probably those between 10 nanometers and 1 micrometre,” notes Christos Symeonides, a researcher at Murdoch Children’s Research Hospital. “They’re the ones most likely to get through our biological membranes into tissues, including the blood-brain barrier,” he told AFP.For reference, human hair is only about 80 microns across, meaning most microplastics of concern are stuff we won’t even be able to spot, hiding in plain sight.Furthermore, the plastic forecast only covers plastics significantly outside this danger range — over 50 microns in length. The microplastics that were detected in human blood were around 700 nanometres, or 0.7 micrometres, in length.While such forecasting practices are a great initial step, we clearly need to cover many such research gaps. Additionally, the report has been developed based on a 2015 research on Paris from samples collected from multiple locations year-round, meaning we probably won’t be looking at this section to grace our weather sections daily.”This should sharpen the focus of negotiators,” said Marcus Gover, head of plastics research at the Minderoo Foundation. “Plastic particles break down into the environment, and this toxic cocktail ends up in our bodies, where it does unimaginable damage to our health.””We’re just now pulling our heads out of the sand when it comes to the health hazards of microplastics,” Symeonides laments.**For weather, science, space, and COVID-19 updates on the go, download The Weather Channel App (on Android and iOS store). It’s free!

On the eve of plastics treaty talks, a youth advocate from Ghana speaks out: ‘we need urgent action’

The youngest voice on a Paris stage Friday had an especially compelling  call for the world to act quickly and decisively to end the global plastics crisis.

That message came from Betty Osei Bonsu, representing the Green Africa Youth Organization, a nongovernmental group, who will be attending next week’s second negotiation session of the United Nations’ effort to develop a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution.

“We want to see a just transition to safer and more sustainable livelihoods for workers and communities across the plastics supply chain,” Bonsu told the pre-negotiation gathering that included United Nations officials, delegates from countries large and small and business leaders. 

She called for a global agreement that will hold “corporate polluters responsible for the profound damages that is caused by excessive production of plastics,” and said: “We need global leaders to stand up for this fight.”

Bonsu took head-on the chemical industry’s big push for so-called “advanced” or “chemical” recycling, touted by lobby groups such as the American Chemistry Council as a way to use technology such as pyrolysis or gasification to turn plastic waste into fuel or feedstocks for new plastics. 

“No more techno-fixes and false solutions such as chemical recycling or incineration,”  Bonsu said, echoing criticism by some scientists and other environmentalists who have said chemical recycling is a largely unproven technology that requires too much energy, has questionable climate benefits and puts communities and the environment at further risk from toxic pollution. “These are only perpetuating our addiction to plastics,” she said.

Bonsu is from Ghana and serves as the Uganda country manager for the Green Africa Youth Organization, a youth-led and gender-balanced advocacy group that focuses on environmental sustainability and community development.

Her work includes advancing green jobs for rural communities and youth engagement in climate policies while she is pursuing a master’s degree at the United Nations University, a global think tank headquartered in Japan, studying environmental risk and human security.

Bonsu was among 11 people who spoke at Friday’s briefing, which was organized by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Waste, the Scientists Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty and the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, in advance of s next week’s negotiation. Delegates are hoping to begin to coalesce around some of the major themes of, or expectations for, a draft treaty.

Bonsu told delegates and others that “young people are recognizing the fact that they are the ones who will be most affected by plastics pollution, particularly those of us residing in the Global South, who are already experiencing the adverse effects of climate change, plastics pollution and biodiversity loss. We need urgent action.”

Last year, 175 nations agreed to find a way to stop future plastic production from choking ocean and land ecosystems and to clean up legacy plastic pollution. They set a goal of reaching an agreement by the end of next year.

In the run-up to next week’s talks, the United Nations Environment Program released one report that detailed the toxic threats from the thousands of chemicals used to make plastic and another that identified a roadmap of potential solutions to cut plastic waste by 80 percent.

Environmentalists, businesses and scientists are also weighing in, issuing reports, statements or letters in efforts to influence the talks, including policy briefs from the Scientists Coalition, a nongovernmental organization based in Norway, on plastics and chemicals, and climate change.

Greenpeace USA also published a report that seeks to make a case that recycling increases the toxicity of plastics.

In March, research published by the Annals of Global Health, a peer-reviewed journal, concluded that plastic causes illness and death across its lifecycle, from production to use and disposal.

The risk can come from being near oil and gas extraction, working in plastic manufacturing plants or living near them, eating food heated in plastic packaging or breathing the air near incinerators where plastic waste gets burned as trash.

The Plastic Industry Association, a lobby group, issued a statement proclaiming the benefits of plastic, calling it “essential to the health, safety, protection and well-being of humanity,” and arguing against limits to plastic production that, it said, would “stifle” innovation. Instead, the business group said, the focus should be on fostering an economy where plastic waste “is valued for what it can achieve.”

The American Chemistry Council’s Joshua Baca said Greenpeace’s proposals “would disrupt global supply chains, hinder sustainable development, and substitute plastics with materials that have a much higher carbon footprint in critical uses.”

A number of countries or coalitions of countries have already put forward their initial positions for the meeting, dividing along certain fault lines. In all, the U.N. has collected more than 60 opening submissions from participating countries, and another 200 written comments from non-governmental organizations, including environmental and business groups.

Some of the countries’ opening proposals are strong and expansive. The European Union, for example, calls for global targets to reduce the production of plastics. The EU and other countries articulate their vision for phasing out risky chemical additives, such as endocrine disruptors like phthalates, which are used to make plastics pliable and are a threat to human health.

The growing, 55-member High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, led by Norway and Rwanda, offered a proposal that notes plastic consumption has quadrupled over the past 30 years and that plastic production would likely double over the next 20. Measures and targets for limiting plastic production will be needed to “reduce pressure on the environment globally,” they wrote.

Critics have described the Biden administration’s opening position as weak and vague, or “low ambition,” despite its recognition of a need to end plastic pollution by 2040. It calls for individual national action plans as opposed to strong global mandates.

Friday, a U.S. delegate from the State Department, Jose W. Fernandez, sought to convey the United States’ commitment to solving the plastics crisis.

“Let me start with a clear message,” said Fernandez, the under-secretary for economic growth, energy and the environment in the Biden administration. “Solving the plastic pollution crisis is a priority for the United States,” he said. “The United States is one of the largest producers and consumers of plastic. And we’re also one of the largest generators of plastic waste. We know that the world is watching our actions. And we are determined to lead by example.”

For its  part, the High Ambition Coalition, which includes the European Union, Canada and Japan, issued a new statement on Friday that called for a “comprehensive approach that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics, with a view to end plastic pollution by 2040 to protect human health and the environment from plastic pollution while contributing to the restoration of biodiversity and curbing climate change.”

The coalition called for several binding provisions including those targeting microplastics, which have become ubiquitous in the environment and are found in human blood, placental fluid and feces, and to remediate existing plastic pollution. 

Espen Barth Eide, the minister of climate and the environment for Norway and the co-chair of the coalition, said its efforts should be seen as focused on stopping plastic waste, not combatting plastic.

“As such, we realize that there will be products that will still be made by plastics,” he said. “We realize that that can be done in a much sounder way than today. But we do also recognize that we will have to substitute plastics in certain products, we have to come to an end with the use of single-use plastics, we have to think about reusability and recyclability and in order to do that, we also have to look at the product design.”

Plastic was never designed to be recycled.

That will have to change, he said, adding: “That plastic that shall still be used will need to be designed from the start in such a way that re-use, and later, if necessary, recycling, is possible and sound and healthy.”

Recycled and reused food contact plastics are ‘vectors’ for toxins – study

Recycled and reused food contact plastics are “vectors for spreading chemicals of concern” because they accumulate and release hundreds of dangerous toxins like styrene, benzene, bisphenol, heavy metals, formaldehyde and phthalates, new research finds. The study assessed hundreds of scientific publications on plastic and recycled plastic to provide a first-of-its-kind systematic review of food contact …

Boyan Slat: Humanity is addicted to plastic, but we can still keep it out of our oceans

The world is finally getting serious about plastic pollution.Next week, delegates from U.N. member states will gather in Paris to debate the shape of what some hope will become the plastic-pollution equivalent of the Paris Climate Agreement.There is no time to waste. Plastic is one of the biggest threats our oceans face today, causing untold harm to ecosystems, tremendous economic damage to coastal communities and posing a potential health threat to more than three billion people dependent on seafood.The U.N. Environment Program has put forward a proposal to keep plastics in circulation as long as possible through reuse and recycling. Some activists and scientists advocate capping and reducing plastic production and use.Plastic pollution in Las Vacas River, Guatemala.The Ocean CleanupA barrier guards a river from plastic in Guatemala.The Ocean CleanupI share the desire for real long-term change, and all proposals should be considered. But if we are to halt the flow of plastic into our oceans in the near future, then we must focus our actions on the polluting rivers that carry most of it there.In 2011, when I was 16, I went scuba diving during a family holiday in Greece, excited to experience the eternal beauty of our ocean and its wildlife.I saw more plastic bags than fish. It was a crushing disappointment. I asked myself, “Why can’t we just clean this up?”Naïve? Perhaps. But I set out to try. By 2013 I had founded The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit funded by donations and a range of philanthropic partners with the mission to rid the oceans of plastic.An Interceptor machine collecting plastic in a river in Los Angeles County.The Ocean CleanupIt made sense to target what is perhaps the most glaring symbol of our oceanic plastic problem, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an expanse in the North Pacific Ocean more than twice the size of Texas where bottles, buoys and other plastic refuse accumulates because of converging currents.Working in harsh oceanic conditions is a challenge, and we have encountered our share of setbacks. What kept us going were the scenes our crews encountered at sea: dissected fish whose guts were full of sharp plastic fragments, sea turtles entangled in abandoned fishing nets.Eventually, in 2021, we managed to get our system to work. Two boats pull a U-shaped barrier — our latest version is almost a mile long — through the water at slow speed, which funnels plastic into a collection area. The waste is pulled out, taken to shore and recycled. We take great care to ensure that our cleanup efforts don’t harm the marine ecosystem. Images of heaps of plastic being pulled from the ocean have led to accusations — never substantiated — that they were staged. But the tons of plastic that we gather are all too real.We are still at the pilot stage, but by our estimates we’ve removed more than 0.2 percent of the plastic in the patch so far and our systems are only getting better. We have a long way to go, but we are making progress.Cleaning up ocean garbage patches is critical. But if we don’t also stop more plastic from flowing into the oceans, we will never be able to get the job done.

Plastic waste puts millions of world’s poorest at higher risk from floods

A devastating 2005 flood that killed 1,000 people in the Indian city of Mumbai was blamed on a tragically simple problem: plastic bags had blocked storm drains, stopping monsoon flood water from draining out of the city. Now a new report, attempting to quantify this problem, estimates that 218 million of the world’s poorest people …

Recycled plastic can be more toxic and is no fix for pollution, Greenpeace warns

Recycling plastic can make it more toxic and should not be considered a solution to the pollution crisis, Greenpeace has warned before the latest round of negotiations for an international plastics treaty. “Plastics are inherently incompatible with a circular economy,” the global environmental network said in a report that brings together research showing recycled plastics …

Recycling can release huge quantities of microplastics, study finds

Recycling has been promoted by the plastics industry as a key solution to the growing problem of plastic waste. But a study has found recycling itself could be releasing huge quantities of microplastics. An international team of scientists sampled wastewater from a state-of-the-art recycling plant at an undisclosed location in the UK. They found that …

UN publishes report on chemicals in plastics

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The report provides state of knowledge on chemicals in plastics and based on compelling scientific evidence calls for urgent action to address chemicals in plastics as part of the global action on plastic pollution.
Overview of the report
The “Chemicals in Plastics: A Technical Report” aims to inform the global community about the often-overlooked chemical-related issues of plastic pollution, particularly their adverse impacts on human health and the environment as well as on resource efficiency and circularity.  Based on compelling scientific evidence, it further highlights the urgent need to act and outlines possible areas for action. It also aims to support the negotiation process to develop the instrument on plastic pollution based on United Nations Environment Assembly resolution 5/14. The report outlines a set of credible and publicly available scientific studies and initiatives focused on chemicals in plastics and the science-policy interface.
The report was developed by UNEP in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, with lead authors from the International Panel on Chemical Pollution, as well as contributions from key experts.
Some key findings
Based on the latest studies, more than 13,000 chemicals have been identified as associated with plastics and plastic production across a wide range of applications.
Ten groups of chemicals (based on chemistry, uses, or sources) are identified as being of major concern due to their high toxicity and potential to migrate or be released from plastics, including specific flame retardants, certain  UV stabilizers,  per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), phthalates, bisphenols, alkylphenols and alkylphenol ethoxylates, biocides, certain metals and metalloids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and many other non-intentionally added substances (NIAS).
Chemicals of concern have been found in plastics across a wide range of sectors and products value chains, including toys and other children’s products, packaging (including food contact materials), electrical and electronic equipment, vehicles, synthetic textiles and related materials, furniture, building materials, medical devices, personal care and household products, and agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries.
Chemicals of concern in plastics can impact our health and our environment: Extensive scientific data on the potential adverse impacts of about 7,000 substances associated with plastics show that more than 3,200 of them have one or more hazardous properties of concern.
Women and children are particularly susceptible to these toxic chemicals. Exposures can have severe or long-lasting adverse effects on several key period of a women’s life and may impact the next generations. Exposures during fetal development and in children can cause, for example, neurodevelopmental / neurobehavioural related disorders. Men are not spared either, with latest research documenting substantial detrimental effects on male fertility due to current combined exposures to hazardous chemicals, many of which are associated with plastics.
Chemicals of concern can be released from plastic along its entire life cycle, during not only the extraction of raw materials, production of polymers and manufacture of plastic products, but also the use of plastic products and at the end of their life, particularly when waste is not properly managed, finding their way to the air, water and soils.
Existing evidence calls for urgent action to address chemicals in plastics as part of the global action on plastic pollution, to protect human health and the environment, and transition to a toxic-free and sustainable circular economy.
UNEP acknowledges the financial support from the Government of Norway, the Government of Sweden and the Government of Switzerland, for the development of the report.

Powerful art installation at Chennai beach reflects grim reality of marine pollution

The plastic waste was retrieved from the ocean at Chennai’s Besant Nagar Beach. (Credits : Twitter)It was revealed to mark the Mega Beach Clean-Up programme on May 21.The sad reality of marine pollution not only shows the extent of the problem in our environment but also serves as a stark reminder of the grave threat to our biodiversity. In an effort to promote awareness about the importance of keeping beaches clean and mitigating the influx of plastic into the ocean, authorities in Chennai took a proactive step. They established an art installation at Besant Nagar beach, constructed entirely from ocean plastic, resembling a colossal fish.IAS officer Supriya Sahu posted a video on Twitter and wrote: “We have put up this installation made with plastic waste retrieved from the ocean at Besant Nagar Beach in Chennai to mark the Mega Beach Clean-up programme organised today. It not only portrays the sad reality of pollution in our oceans but also raises an alarm about the serious threat to marine biodiversity.”We have put up this installation made with plastic waste retrieved from the ocean at Besant Nagar Beach in Chennai to mark the Mega Beach Clean up programme organised today. It not only portrays the sad reality of pollution in our oceans but also raises an alarm about the serious… pic.twitter.com/Vn0a7jhuGj— Supriya Sahu IAS (@supriyasahuias) May 21, 2023The art installation acted as a compelling symbol, shedding light on the critical importance of environmental conservation. It was established ahead of a countrywide beach clean-up campaign on May 21, coinciding with the first day of the third G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group Meeting. This synchronized endeavor aimed to tackle the urgent problem of plastic pollution.Since the day the video was posted, it has amassed around 70 thousand views. Commenting on the video, a user from Nilgiris raised the concern about the place saying, “Dear Ma’am, can something similar be done in Nilgiris as well? Plastic waste strewn on the roadside, garbage bins lying overturned everywhere – certainly not a pleasant sight to see. I believe the authorities need to renew their vigour to keep Nilgiris plastic free.”Dear Ma’am, can something similar be done in Nilgiris as well? Plastic waste strewn on the road side, garbage bins lying overturned everywhere – certainly not a pleasant sight to see. I believe the authorities need to renew their vigour to keep Nilgiris plastic free!#Nilgiris— vivek (@hvivekw) May 21, 2023Another user agreed and commented: “Yes. We have beaches, mountains, rivers, lakes, waterfalls but nothing is clean everything is polluted. Only government cannot prevent this. People come forward to clean our environmental. Only public+private+people make this happen.”Yes.we have beaches, mountains, rivers,lakes, waterfalls but nothing is clean everything is polluted. Only government cannot prevent this.people come forward to clean our environmental.Only public+private+people make this happen.— Rahul (@rahul_space6) May 21, 2023“An Ocean Emergency has already been declared by the UN. It is about time India seriously invested in Inland fishery-with the multiple benefits of saving wetlands/ponds/lakes etc, increasing nutrition incomes ++. As a proactive bureaucrat, please take the lead Ms Sahu,” wrote another.top videosAn “Ocean Emergency “ has already been declared by the UN. It is about time India seriously invested in Inland fishery-with the multiple benefits of saving wetlands/ponds/lakes etc, increasing nutrition+incomes ++. As a proactive bureaucrat, please take the lead Ms Sahu.— Lalitha Kumaramangalam (@kumaramangalaml) May 21, 2023What do you think about this initiative?

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