Plastic, an international treaty to stop the plague

That is why the treaty will have to include a limit to plastic productionas it has underlined an international group of scientists in the journal Science after the publication of the draft UN resolution. “We will push for a mandatory and binding cap on production – says Jane Patton, head of plastics and petrochemicals campaigns at the Center for international environmental law, who will take part in the talks -, and to change the way plastics are made, to eliminate toxic chemicals from manufacturing and the supply chain“.

Indeed, the draft resolution calls for action on the “entire life cycle” of plastic, from production to disposal. But time will tell whether the negotiators will be able to agree on a cap. The ideal would be to agree on an international binding limit, but it is also possible that individual countries decide to make commitments locally.

Even the introduction of a reduced limit could throw the foundations for ever more ambitious constraints. Melanie Bergmann, microplastics researcher at the Alfred Wegener institute and co-author of the article published in Scienceargues that a decrease in the supply of plastic could finally make recycling more sustainable. “A reduction in the production of new plastics should also increase the price and demand for recycled plastics, so that recycling becomes really cheap – explains Bergmann, who will participate in the UN talks–, because it is currently cheaper to produce plastic from fossil raw materials than from recycled sources“.

The health hazards

Other scientists they ask that the chemical components of plastic be placed at the center of the negotiations, with the aim of negotiating a prohibition of certain particularly toxic compounds or polymers. According to a study, of the more than 10,000 chemicals that are used in various forms of plastic, such as pvc or polystyrene, a quarter consists of dangerous substances, i.e. already known toxic agents or materials that accumulate and remain in organisms and in the environment . From a human point of view, among the most harmful elements are the endocrine disrupting chemicals, or EoC, which are quite common. Even at very low doses, they can cause serious harm Health problems and have been associated with cancers and hormonal problems. One study conducted earlier this year reports that i phthalateschemicals contained in plastics, are linked to 100,000 early deaths a year in the United States, a very conservative estimate.