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The world must halve “single-use” plastics and massively adopt the triptych of “reuse, recycle and alternative” to stop this rampant pollution, according to a United Nations report on Tuesday, which does not however set an overall reduction target. from production.
This roadmap, entitled “Turn off the tap”, is published by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) two weeks before the 2nd stage in Paris of international negotiations.
These must lead to a legally binding international treaty by the end of 2024 to put an end to this massive pollution which threatens human health and the environment.
In 2019, 353 million tonnes of plastic waste were produced worldwide, of which 22% ended up abandoned, that is to say in wild dumps, burned in the open air or released into nature.
And of all waste, the volume of which has doubled since 2000, two-thirds are short-lived plastics.
The report therefore recommends “in the first place to eliminate problematic and unnecessary plastics”, in particular by “halving the production of single-use plastics”.
Beyond this ephemeral category, UNEP does not explicitly mention the reduction in the production of all plastics, which could double by 2040.
It nevertheless predicts an explosion by 2040 in the volume of “abandoned waste”, if the current economic model continues.
Accordingly, UNEP urges the international community to adopt a “systemic change scenario“, based on “three changes in the market: reuse, recycle, diversifySuch a revolution, the report claims, could “reduce by 80%” the 227 million tons of “abandoned waste” expected in 2040.
But “even with these measures, 100 Mt of single-use, short-lived plastics will still need to be processed each year by 2040, not to mention the considerable legacy of existing plastic pollution“, recalls UNEP.
For Hirotaka Koite, head of Greenpeace, joined by AFP, “the report falls far short of the necessary ambitions” because “it does not speak of a reduction in overall production”.
“They tried to change a pipe, replace the valves, but they don’t really try to turn off the tap“, regrets this observer of the negotiations.
On the Surfrider Foundation side, on the contrary, we salute a “real change of economic model“, credible, which is not based on hypothetical technological solutions.