‘Roadmap’ to slash plastic pollution
According to the UNEP report, the roadmap to dramatically reduce plastic pollution is to keep plastics out of ecosystems, out of our bodies, and in the economy.
The report outlines the importance of changes required to end plastics pollution and create an environmentally friendly economy.
Changing the system
The report proposes a system of changes including 3 key conversions – reuse, recycle, reorient, and diversity.
However, even with the solution above, 100 million metric tons of plastics from single-use products need to be dealt with annually by 2040.
Building circular economy
UNEP suggests people should set and implement design and safety standards for disposing of non-recyclable plastic waste and make manufacturers responsible for shedding microplastic products.
Generally, a circular economy would result in $1.27 trillion in savings, and avoided externalities such as health, climate, air pollution, marine ecosystem degradation, and litigation-related costs would save a further $3.25 trillion.
Creating 700,000 jobs
According to the analysis, such a move might lead to a net gain of 700,000 jobs by 2040, largely in low-income nations, greatly enhancing the standard of living for millions of employees.
The recommended systemic change has large investment costs, but they are less than the expected spending ($65 billion per year compared to $113 billion annually) if the systematic change is not implemented.
Finite timeframe
However, the report warned that time is the essential thing. An additional 80 million metric tons of plastics by 2040 might result from a five-year delay.
With rules to ensure plastics are designed to fit a circular model, producer responsibility schemes require producers to cover the operational costs of ensuring the system’s integrity to finance the collection, recycling, and responsible end-of-life disposal of plastic products.
UN Haiti/Daniel Dickinson
2023, New UN ‘roadmap’ shows how to drastically slash plastic pollution, UN News
Retrieved from URL: https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/05/1136702
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