Author: Benji Jones

Plastic recycling doesn’t work, no matter how diligently you wash out your peanut butter container. Only about 15 percent of plastic waste is collected for recycling worldwide, and of that, about half ends up discarded. That means just 9 percent of plastic waste is recycled. The rest — some 91 percent of all plastic waste — ends up in landfills, incinerators, or as trash in the environment. One report estimated that 11 million metric tons of plastic trash leaked into the ocean in 2016, and that number could triple by 2040 as the global population rises and lower-income countries develop. Plastic is now simply everywhere: at the deepest depths of the ocean, on the tallest mountains, in hundreds of species of wildlife, and even in human placentas.

Authors: Sugiharto P, Nabil Ihsan

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government plans to gradually phase out single-use plastic utensils and packaging by 2029, according to Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar.  She revealed that the items that will be phased out include polystyrene foam food packaging, single-use food utensils and plastic straws, plastic bags, multilayer packaging, and small-sized packaging.

Author: Joseph Winters

During the second round of negotiations for a global plastics treaty in Paris this week, diplomats have clashed over competing priorities — including the role of recycling and how to address toxic chemicals. But some experts are arguing that one issue in particular should anchor the ongoing talks: climate change. “It’s not just a plastics crisis; it’s a climate crisis,” said Kristen McDonald, senior director of the China program for the nonprofit Pacific Environment. “Everyone should be coming away from the global plastics treaty table this week understanding that.”

Author: Mia Rabson

OTTAWA - Canada is open to the idea of including a requirement to cut back on the production of plastic in a new global treaty to eliminate plastic pollution, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Friday. But he said that may become one of the biggest sticking points in the negotiations, which are supposed to conclude at the end of next year. “The idea that we might have to commit to reducing the use of plastics will be something that’s going to be difficult for some countries to agree to,” said Guilbeault in an interview.

Author: Valerie Volcovici

June 2 (Reuters) - After a rocky start to a week of negotiations, around 170 countries agreed to develop a first draft by November of what could become the first global treaty to curb plastic pollution by the end of next year. Country delegations, NGOs and industry representatives gathered in Paris this week for the second round of UN talks toward a legally binding pact to halt the explosion of plastic waste, which is projected to almost triple by 2060, with around half ending up in landfill and less than a fifth recycled, according to a 2022 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report.

Author: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

GENEVA (1 June 2023) – The world must beat the toxic tidal wave of plastic pollution that threatens human rights, UN experts* said today, urging States and other stakeholders to put rights at the centre of the international treaty on plastic pollution currently under negotiation. Ahead of World Environment Day, they issued the following joint statement:

“Plastic production has increased exponentially over recent decades and today the world is generating 400 million tonnes of plastic waste yearly. All stages of the plastics cycle have adverse impacts on human rights. We are in the middle of an overwhelming toxic tidal wave as plastic pollutes our environment and negatively impacts human rights in a myriad of ways over its life cycle.”

Author: Judith Lewis Mernit

Bob Powell had spent more than a decade in the energy industry when he turned his attention to the problem of plastic waste. “I’m very passionate about the environment,” he says. To him, the accumulating scourge of irresponsibly discarded plastic ranks high on the list of environmental issues, “right behind global warming and drought.” In 2014, he found what he considers a solution: a suite of technologies that uses chemicals and heat to turn plastic into oil to manufacture more plastic.

Author: Marissa Heffernan

A recent analysis by Switzerland-based Food Packaging Forum reviewed hundreds of scientific studies and concluded that recycled and reused food-contact plastics can accumulate and release chemicals of concern.  Published by Cambridge University Press, the study noted that reusing and recycling plastics can lead to “unintended negative impacts, because hazardous chemicals, like endocrine disrupters and carcinogens, can be released during reuse and accumulate during recycling.” 

Author: Stine Müller

In March, I participated in the annual national conference on hormone-disrupting chemicals held by the Danish Centre for Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals. One of the things I took home was that researchers are detecting bisphenols in the majority of urine samples from Danish families. Bisphenols are a group of industrial chemicals widely used in the manufacture of everyday consumer products such as plastic tableware, food cans, sports equipment, leather footwear and clothing. There is growing concern that some bisphenols can damage fertility and disrupt the hormonal systems of both people and animals. For example, the EU has identified Bisphenol A (BPA), the best-known member of the bisphenol family, as a ‘Substance of Very High Concern’, but other bisphenols are believed to present at least the same level of concern, according to the EU Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

Author: Joanna York

The scale of plastic pollution is growing, relentlessly. The world is producing twice as much plastic waste as two decades ago, reaching 353 million tonnes in 2019, according to OECD figures. The vast majority goes into landfills, gets incinerated or is “mismanaged”, meaning left as litter or not correctly disposed of. Just 9 percent of plastic waste is recycled. 

Author: Megan Smalley

A study released by ABC News has led to some skepticism around plastic bag recycling programs at retail locations. According to the report, ABC News collaborated with nine ABC-owned TV stations to place 46 trackers on plastic bag bundles that were deposited at Walmart and Target locations for recycling in 10 states. Trackers were super glued and wrapped inside multiple layers of clean plastic bags. ABC News reports its team monitored each tracker’s location multiple times a day for months, and trackers pinged whenever they were near a compatible digital or mobile device.

Author: Valerie Volcovici

May 29 (Reuters) - As talks start this week on a global plastics treaty, debate is emerging between countries wanting to limit the production of more plastics and the petrochemical industry favoring recycling as the solution to plastic waste. Ahead of a meeting starting on Monday, many countries have said a goal of the treaty should be "circularity" – or keeping already-produced plastic items in circulation as long as possible.

Author: Muscat Daily

Muscat – The Environment Authority (EA), in collaboration with Oman Environmental Services Holding Company – be’ah, launched a workshop on Monday aimed at shedding light on transboundary waste movement. The two-day workshop focuses on training environmental inspectors and customs officials in effectively managing hazardous waste at border crossings, thus advancing sound waste management practices. Speaking to Muscat Daily, Dr Mohammad Majid al Kasbi, Director of EA’s Department of Chemical Materials, highlighted the workshop’s objectives. “It seeks to enhance the skills and knowledge of the authority’s employees stationed at border crossings and customs specialists, enabling them to identify hazardous waste, comprehend its impact on health and the environment, and ensure its proper management during transboundary movement.”

Author: Pascal Scherrer

This week in Paris, negotiators from around the world are convening for a United Nations meeting. They will tackle a thorny problem: finding a globally binding solution for plastic pollution. Of the staggering 460 million tonnes of plastic used globally in 2019 alone, much is used only once and thrown away. About 40% of plastic waste comes from packaging. Almost two-thirds of plastic waste comes from items with lifetimes of less than five years.

Author: William Brangham, Lorna Baldwin, Harry Zahn

As plastic waste piles up in the world’s landfills, sewer systems and oceans, the United Nations has set a goal to reduce plastic pollution by 80 percent by the year 2040. Inger Andersen, head of the United Nations Environment Programme, joins William Brangham to discuss the upcoming negotiations over how to realize this goal.