This week, negotiators from over 145 countries are meeting in Geneva to continue work on an international, legally binding Global Plastics Treaty.
I have spoken in Parliament about the pernicious dangers of plastic pollution and led a debate on the Global Plastics Treaty last year. Last week The Lancet, a medical journal, covered the issue as well.
Because most people are much more aware about recycling and understand that plastic production is bad for the climate, there is an assumption that plastic production is decreasing. But the reality is that plastic production is increasing dramatically.
Globally, plastic production has doubled since 2000. Around 475 million tonnes of plastic are currently produced every year and current projections estimate that figure will be 1,200 million tonnes by 2060. Less than 10% is recycled. Some 8bn tonnes already pollute the planet. This is utterly unsustainable.
Plastics endanger people and the planet at every stage, from the initial extraction of the fossil fuels they were made from, through production, to use and disposal. They are harmful to health and the environment at pretty much every stage via air pollution, exposure to toxic chemicals and infiltration of the body with microplastics. Plastic pollution even boosts disease-carrying mosquitoes, as water captured in littered plastic provides good breeding sites.
Plastic is linked to health effects across all stages of life. The Lancet report found that foetuses, infants and young children were very susceptible to the harm associated with plastics, leading to an increased risk of miscarriage, premature and stillbirth, birth defects, impaired lung growth, childhood cancer and fertility problems.
Plastic waste often breaks down into micro/nano-plastics. These enter the body via water, food and breathing. Particles have been found in blood, brains, breast milk, placentas, semen and bone marrow. The impact on human health is largely unknown as yet, but they have been linked to strokes and heart attacks – they are clearly not a good thing!
The plastics industry is wealthy and powerful, and argues that the problem is not over-production, but insufficient re-cycling. However, unlike paper, glass, steel and aluminium, plastics cannot be readily recycled. It is self-evident that the world cannot recycle its way out of the plastic pollution crisis.
Plastic is often seen as a cheap material, but when the health impacts are taken into account, its true cost is far higher.
