Countries across the globe are considering restrictions on the global production of plastic โ to reduce it by 40% in 15 years โ in an attempt to protect human health and the environment.
Available data showed that about 11m tonnes of plastic leaches into the ocean each year, and by 2040 the scale of this marine plastic waste pollution is likely to triple.
Plastic production is a significant driver of climate breakdown, as most plastic is made from fossil fuels. Global plastic production soared from 2m tonnes in 1950 to 348m tonnes in 2017. The plastic production industry is expected to double in capacity by 2040.
A study by scientists at the US-based Lawrence Berkeley National Lab has estimated that by 2050 plastic production could account for 21-31% of the worldโs carbon emission budget required to limit global heating to 1.5C.
As the world attempts to make a treaty to cut plastic waste at UN talks in Ottawa, Canada, two countries have put forward the first concrete proposal to limit production to reduce its harmful effects including the huge carbon emissions from producing it.
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The motion which was submitted by Rwanda and Peru sets out a global reduction target, ambitiously termed a โnorth starโ, to cut the production of primary plastic polymers across the world by 40% by 2040, from a 2025 baseline.
It says: โThe effectiveness of both supply and demand-side measures will be assessed, in whole or in part, on their success in reducing the production of primary plastic polymers to sustainable levels.โ
Among other things, the proposal calls for the consideration of mandatory reporting by countries of statistical data on production, imports and exports of primary plastic polymers.
A global plastic reduction target would be similar to the legally binding Paris agreement to pursue efforts to limit global temperature increase to 1.5C above preindustrial levels, Rwanda and Peru said.
โThe target should align with our objectives for a safe circular economy for plastics by closing the circularity gap between production and consumption,โ the countries said.
โIt should also align with our objective in the Paris agreement to limit warming to 1.5C. To this end, one such global reduction target could be a 40% reduction by 2040 against a 2025 baseline.โ
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
