UN Devises Plan To Reduce Plastic Pollution By 80% Until 2040

News Desk

Paris: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report lays out a three-pronged plan based on reuse, recycling and diversifying the materials used to help slash plastic pollution by 80 per cent by 2040 overall and cut single-use plastic production by half.

The report cited research estimating that plastic could emit 19 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. That would essentially prevent the world from meeting its Paris Agreement commitment to limit the rise in the planet’s average temperature to 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level.

UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen stated that the way we produce, use and dispose of plastics endangers human health, destabilises the climate and creates risks for human health.

Around 238 million metric tonnes (mmt) of garbage from short-lived plastics, such as packaging that ends up in municipal waste, were generated globally in 2020. Approximately half of that was mismanaged, such as being dumped in the environment or burned.

Without significant changes, UNEP expects annual plastic waste to reach 408 metric tonnes (mt) by 2040, including 380mt of new fossil-fuel-based plastics. That would mean some 227mt of plastic would end up in the environment.

The report estimates that with a range of ‘systems change’ solutions, that pollution figure could be reduced to 41 mmt. But the report says there is no time to waste.

UNEP report warned that the next three to five years provide a key window for action in putting the globe on track to implement the systems change scenario by 2040.

Reuse, rather than recycling, is chosen as the most effective approach for reducing plastic pollution by up to 30 per cent through the implementation of things like refillable water bottles, package take-back programmes and reverse vending machines.

While governments must incentivise the shift, consumers must forego the convenience of disposables and become accustomed to products looking less shiny.

The report found that better recycling could cut pollution by a fifth, while replacing plastics with alternatives like paper or other compostable materials may help cut waste by another 17 per cent.