Life in Plastic’s Not Fantastic: Why the Global Plastics Treaty Must Tackle Fossil Fuel-based Production and Subsidies
Although plastic production more than doubled to 460 million tonnes between 2000 and 2019, only 9% of plastic waste is successfully recycled. Fifty percent ends up in landfills, 19% is incinerated and 22% ends up in uncontrolled dumpsites on land, and in rivers, oceans and other aquatic environments, or is burned in open pits, notes Shandelle Steadman in her comment for the
Overseas Development Institute. Over 100 UN member states support legally binding and equitable global agreements that change how plastics are produced and consumed, but that ambition confronts serious pushback from countries like the US, China, Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia. While not negotiating as a bloc, their shared position is about focusing on improving waste management instead of limiting plastic production. Their resistance highlights the need to design a fair and just transition.
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