PARIS: The United Nations has issued a report warning the world about the urgent need to address plastic pollution in the coming years. The report advises the global community to reduce excessive use of plastics and curb throwaway consumption in order to tackle the growing tide of environmental pollution.
The report highlights the alarming concerns surrounding the usage and impact of plastics, with microplastic fragments found in the deepest ocean trenches to the highest peak of Mount Everest. These fragments have even been detected in human blood, breast milk, and placentas.
The report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) comes just two weeks before delegates from around 200 countries are set to gather in Paris for talks aimed at reaching a legal agreement next year to address plastic pollution.
The agreement focuses on three key objectives: promoting reuse, recycling, and diversifying materials to reduce plastic pollution by 80% by 2040 and halving the production of single-use plastics.
UN Warns of Plastic’s Dangers for Earth
Furthermore, the report presents research indicating that plastic could account for 19% of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. This projection raises concerns about meeting the commitments of the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen emphasizes that the current approach to producing, using, and disposing of plastics is polluting ecosystems, posing risks to human health, and destabilizing the climate. She highlights the report’s roadmap, which advocates for a circular approach to keep plastics out of ecosystems, human bodies, and the economy.
In 2020, approximately 238 million metric tonnes (mmt) of waste from short-lived plastics, such as packaging, ended up in municipal waste worldwide, with almost half of it mismanaged through improper disposal or burning.
Without proper measures, UNEP fears that annual plastic waste could exceed 400 mmt by 2040, including 380 mmt of new fossil-fuel-based plastics. The report underscores the need for immediate action and identifies the next three to five years as a critical window to implement transformative measures and steer the world towards a systems change scenario by 2040.
