The planet is choking on plastics — they have been found in the deepest parts of the oceans and on the highest mountain peaks.
The global production of plastics has doubled relentlessly since 2000, reaching 460 million tonnes a year in 2019, with 353 million tonnes ending up as waste. No corner of the globe is spared.
The world leaders who are meeting for the fourth round of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic (INC4) in Ottawa, Canada, from 23 to 29 April 2024, should acknowledge the colossal scale of the plastics crisis. If the current production trends continue, it is estimated that, by 2050, there could be more plastic than fish in the oceans, by weight.
The crisis is escalated by the fact that only 9% of plastic waste gets recycled. These projections should serve as an alarm call for governments, businesses and individuals alike to address the crisis, not as a waste-management issue, but rather as a production problem. Plastic production cannot continue on this unchecked and unsustainable path.
Over 99% of plastics produced are derived from fossil fuels, the same culprit that exacerbates the climate crisis, driving biodiversity loss and environmental pollution.
Research shows that, if the current plastics production and growth patterns continue, the accumulation of greenhouse gases from it could cover 10% to 13% of the carbon budget, equivalent to 250 gigatons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, by 2050.
Addressing the plastics crisis requires a holistic approach that tackles the issue at its roots. We must prioritise reducing the production of plastics and embrace solutions such as refill and reuse systems. Our approach to packaging and product design needs to be rethought to minimise the use, and production, of single-use plastics.
Plastic pollution is no longer an emergency, but a crisis, and it demands urgent action that will end the age of plastics once and for all.
In 2022, 173 countries struck an agreement at the UN environment assembly (UNEA5) to negotiate a legally binding instrument that would curb plastic pollution. However, there have been obstacles along the way, with petrochemical lobbyists flooding the negotiations.
For instance, over 140 lobbyists from petrochemical industries registered to attend the third session of negotiations in Nairobi, Kenya, more than the representatives from 70 small member states. This is a clear sign that petrochemical industries are not willing to go down without a fight and will continue putting profit before people by polluting the planet.
At the fourth round of INC4 in Ottawa, we look forward to seeing more ambitious action from member states, spearheaded by a group of like-minded countries which formed a coalition to fight plastic — championing a treaty that will tackle the crisis throughout its lifecycle, from production to disposal, and not only downstream measures.
Furthermore, upstream measures, such as production reduction, must be preserved in the text of the treaty, otherwise it will merely be a waste-management agreement, not one aimed at ending plastic pollution.
Gerance Mutwol is the plastics campaigner for Greenpeace Africa
As world leaders meet at the fourth round of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on plastics, urgent, bold steps must be taken
