Plastic pollution: "The France alone can do nothing, let's stop flogging ourselves!"

Emmanuelle Ducros 08:46, May 29, 2023

It starts today in Paris. The negotiations around the global treaty against plastic pollution, They will last until June 2.

The initiative for a global treaty against plastic pollution comes from a resolution of the United Nations Assembly in March 2022. Since then, negotiations have brought together 193 States. First meeting in Uruguay in March 2022. There will be 3 more after Paris by 2024.

The objective is "a binding text with measures that take into account the entire life cycle of plastics; production, consumption and until the end of their life".

To planetary problem, solutions can only be planetary

Plastic is the third most manufactured material in the world, after cement and steel. 460 million tonnes each year.

Microplastics are everywhere; in the human body, the air, the oceans. There is only one global treaty to stop this pollution.

This still leads to several reflections.

The first: beware of plasticophobia. This material is criticized, but we must not forget the considerable progress it has allowed, in terms of safety, hygiene, comfort, practicality.

Reflection that leads to the second: plastic is a material of development. In Europe, in the United States, its growth preceded the development of recycling techniques. And production is always several steps ahead. In Europe, only 35% of plastic waste is collected, or 10 million tonnes. Half is recycled. And it is still possible to put on the market plastics that we do not know how to treat.

Reflection that leads to a third

Global development has led to a massive increase in plastic production. since 2000, the world has produced more plastic than in the previous 50 years.

In developed countries, we therefore have two levers to activate urgently. First, a drastic reduction in the quantities produced. Especially for single uses and packaging. And then, intensify collection, recycling and incorporation of recovered resins into new products, which still poses toxicological or quality problems.

But we must also act on another front

Following a north-south axis. Philippines, India, Malaysia, China, Indonesia. These are the five countries that release the most plastic into the ocean. It says nothing about land-based waste. But it says that many developing countries are still in the phase that Europe experienced in the 60s and 70s, where plastic was produced without worrying about its end of life. Moreover, the countries of the South often do not have the means to manage any of the waste created by rapid development.

We cannot act as much on production as in Europe, because we cannot curb the rise in living standards among populations emerging from poverty. However, we can avoid the drift of the disposable. And if there is a global cooperation action to be carried out and financed, it is to accelerate the phase that took 50 years in Europe: that of waste management.