Plastic pollution: Treaty talks get into the nitty-gritty – France

Posted on May 30, 2023 by DrRossH in Plastic Recycling, Plastic Waste News

Countries grappling with the “immense” task of ending plastic pollution began a new round of talks in Paris on Monday, amid protests and warnings of the urgency to act.

Source: Plastic pollution: Treaty talks get into the nitty-gritty

French President Emmanuel Macron urged participating nations to put an end to a “globalised and unsustainable” production model, where richer countries export plastic waste to poorer ones.

“Plastic pollution is a time-bomb and at the same time already a scourge today,” he said in a video message, adding that the materials, based on fossil fuels, posed a risk to global warming goals as well as to biodiversity and human health.

He said the priorities of the negotiations should be first to reduce production of plastics and to ban “as soon as possible” the most polluting products like single-use plastics.

The stakes are high, given that annual plastics production has more than doubled in 20 years to 460 million tonnes, and is on track to triple within four decades.