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【Main points】

1. Science is making progress in understanding how plastics accumulate in the environment and the related adverse impacts.

2. The OECD published a comprehensive Global Plastics Outlook, which maps global plastics flows and stocks, summarises the latest science on environmental impacts, and reviews trends in secondary plastics markets, innovations in the plastics industry, and government policy.

3. The world’s governments have agreed to develop a legally binding global agreement on plastics, planned to be ready by the end of 2024. The agreement is expected to address plastics issues comprehensively and require measures across the full life-cycle of plastics.

【Text】

As research continues, the environmental impacts of plastics are better understood. Governments and companies around the world are launching initiatives to tackle these issues. This month’s 4Revs Feature article introduces a new comprehensive OECD report on plastics and a recent decision to develop a legally binding global treaty on plastics issues.

Tackling Plastics Issues – Towards a Comprehensive Global Approach

In recent years, our society’s increasing use of plastics has attracted growing attention due to its harm to marine life and a source of other adverse impacts, including on human health. Small fragments of plastics (microplastics) can now be found almost everywhere on the planet and scientists have recently confirmed that most humans have plastic particles in their blood.

Responding to these concerns, many governments are now taking action to curb plastics consumption and ensure that plastic products are handled safely and sustainably across their lifecycles. For example, in Japan, new legislation aiming to reduce the use of certain single-use plastic products – the plastic waste recycling and promotion law – entered into force on 1 April 2022.

This month’s 4Revs Feature article looks at the issues related to plastics, highlighting some findings of the OECD’s Global Plastics Outlook, published in February 2022. It also introduces the initiative to develop a new legally binding agreement on plastics, as decided by the world’s governments in early 2022.

Mapping the current situation – the OECD’s Global Plastics Outlook

The OECD’s Global Plastics Outlook is the most recent comprehensive assessment of the situation for plastics. It takes stock of current plastics production, use and waste generation, identifies the underlying economic drivers, and maps the related environmental impacts on a global level.

Based on quantitative modelling of plastic production, trade, use, and waste management, the study provides a high-level mapping of plastic flows at the global level (Figure 1). This snapshot of how plastics move through the global economy reveals how wasteful and polluting the current system is.

The data shows that around 2Mt of plastics are added to the oceans each year. However, much larger amounts of plastics end up polluting other environmental compartments. For example, rivers and lakes have accumulated more than three times as much plastics as the oceans – despite holding much smaller volumes of water. Similarly, soils (terrestrial systems) are receiving more than six times as much plastic pollution each year as the oceans. While the impacts of plastics on marine life are much discussed, the potential impacts of plastics in freshwater systems and soils have so far received much less attention.

It can also be seen that 26Mt of plastics are estimated to be burnt in the open each year, a major health hazard in many low-income countries. In total, 93Mt (26% of all waste plastics) is estimated to be burnt (incineration and open burning), contributing to climate change.

Finally, although plastics recycling has been promoted for many years – often as the most favoured strategy of businesses – circular flows still play a very minor role. For example, although around 15% of plastic waste is collected for recycling, secondary plastics account for only 6.3% of total plastics use.
In addition to this overview of flows and stocks of plastics, the OECD Outlook provides a wealth of information on the latest science concerning environmental impacts, trends in secondary plastics markets, innovations in the plastics industry, trends in government policy, and the role of international co-operation in creating circular plastics value-chains.

Towards a global treaty on plastics

At the UN Environment Assembly meeting in February/March 2022, governments decided to develop a legally binding treaty on plastics , to be ready by the end of 2024. Such an agreement has been demanded by environmental NGOs for quite some time and more recently also by companies that recognise the need for coordinated action.

While the exact scope of the treaty will be decided as part of the negotiation, the mandate provided for this process by governments is very broad, allowing for a comprehensive approach to plastics. The following elements will be considered in the negotiations:

− Tackling plastic pollution in marine and other environments and its impacts
− Measures along the full lifecycle of plastics, including on product design, consumption
and waste management
− A mechanism for providing policy-relevant scientific information and assessment
− A mechanism for providing financial support to the treaty implementation
− National and international cooperative measures
− National action plans and reporting towards the prevention, reduction and elimination
of plastic pollution
− Treaty implementation progress assessments

To kick off the negotiation process, The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) will convene a forum by the end of 2022 that is open to all stakeholders, to share knowledge and best practices in different parts of the world.