Plastic waste is everywhere
Plastic waste is everywhere — and countries must be held accountable for reducing it
As UN negotiations on eliminating plastic pollution enter a crucial phase, researchers must play their part in designing adequate measurement, monitoring and compliance systems.
Editorial, Nature,
Globally, some 400 million tonnes of plastic waste are produced each year1. Plastics have infiltrated some of the planet’s most remote and pristine areas, as two papers published in Nature show to dramatic effect2,3.
Veronica Nava and her colleagues systematically assess the extent of plastic contamination in diverse freshwater lakes and reservoirs across 23 countries, and find them to be widely contaminated with plastic2. Meanwhile, Hudson Pinheiro and his colleagues show that larger pieces of plastic litter, known as macroplastics, represent the largest share of anthropogenic debris found in shallow and deep coral reefs at 25 locations across the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian ocean basins. Even the deeper reefs, lying at depths of 30–150 metres, were found to be polluted; until now, the impact of plastics on these reefs has been little studied3.
Both studies will be important to talks, now under way at the United Nations, on a treaty to eliminate plastic pollution. This is an ambitious goal that will require a radical rethink of plastics production, recycling, remediation and disposal. Experience gained from decades of UN environmental treaties shows that trusted and effective measurement and compliance mechanisms are as important as the agreements themselves. So far, however, the negotiations do not include a specific plan to hold countries accountable for the pledges and promises they make on behalf of their plastics producers, exporters and recyclers. It is clear that this must change — and fast.
#saveouroceans #plastic #pollution Oceana Ocean Conservancy Mission Blue Union of Concerned Scientists Friends of the Earth U.S. Honor the Earth Earth Island Institute Scientists Warning Oil Change International People vs. Oil Indigenous Environmental Network Healthy Gulf Center for Biological Diversity Environmental Working Group UN Environment Programme
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