With this year’s World Environment Day focused on solutions to plastic pollution, more than 150 countries are expected to participate, with millions likely to engage through both in-person and online activities.
Côte d’Ivoire is hosting the day this year and is supported by the Netherlands.
The United Nations states that humanity produces over 430 million tonnes of plastic annually, two-thirds of which are short-lived products that soon become waste, while the social and economic costs of plastic pollution range between $US300 to US$600 billion per year.
As the recent United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, Turning off the Tap, makes clear, redesigning how we produce, use, recover and dispose of plastics and products could save US$4.5 trillion by 2040.
“We must refuse unnecessary single-use items,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of the UNEP, in a video message. “We must redesign products and packaging to use less plastic. We must reuse, recycle, reorient and diversify our systems. This is how we keep plastic out of the ecosystems and in the economy. Everyone must play their part.”
Meanwhile, more than 1700 participants in Paris, over 700 Member State delegates from 169 Member States, and over 900 observers from NGOs, attended the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-2).
Australia’s minister for the environment and water, Tanya Plibersek, was part of the negotiations for a global treaty on reducing plastic pollution, on which she said: “Australia’s playing a really important role, we’ve done a lot already domestically with banning plastic plates and straws and cutlery and plastic bags and so on. But there’s so much more we could do both at home and internationally, and so we want a strong global treaty where countries do their bit and pull their weight, and Australia is going to be a part of that.”
In a further statement following negotiations, Plibersek said: “Australia knows that it’s time for strong global action on reducing plastic waste, it’s important that we take a view across the whole life cycle of plastics, and it’s important that we are ambitious.”
Australian Marine Conservation Society plastics campaign manager Shane Cucow also commented on the events: “Today we are one step closer to a historic agreement to end ocean plastic pollution. This treaty is our one chance to secure the global action needed to stop the flow of plastic into our oceans and ensure future generations can once again enjoy healthy oceans that are full of life.
“We are pleased to see Australia showing leadership in these negotiations, supporting strong, binding measures to control the production and trade of plastic and its waste. Australia was one of many nations to support the inclusion of binding measures to limit plastic production in the draft treaty, which includes options such as global targets to bring plastic use down to sustainable levels.
“Despite mammoth investments in waste management, just nine per cent of plastic is recycled globally. It is clear that we have already exceeded planetary boundaries for the volume of plastic that can safely be managed. We cannot recycle our way out of this crisis.”
To conclude the meeting, the INC requested the secretariat to invite submissions from observers by 15 August and members by 15 September on elements not discussed at INC-2, such as the principles and scope of the instrument, and any potential areas for intersessional work compiled by the co-facilitators of the two contact groups, to inform the work of INC-3, which will be held in Nairobi, Kenya in November.
Around Australia, numerous events and activities have been taking place today, including Better Packaging Co. raising awareness for the UN's #beatplasticpollution campaign theme by installing a plastic waste sculpture at Sydney’s Bondi beach, as well as numerous beach clean ups and fundraising events.
The University of Sydney has also used today to launch its Environmental Sustainability Report 2022, which is the first progress report of its Environmental Sustainability Plan 2022-2024, which has included such achievements as introducing the Plastic Free Dining Awards to recognise campus retailer’s efforts to eliminate single-use plastics, expanding food waste collection, and introducing a soft plastics recycling system, and diverting 84 per cent of surplus furniture from landfill to be repurposed.
