Action: Stop Plastic Pollution
Plastic pollution is everywhere from the Summit of Mount Everest to the ocean depths. It is ruining the health of communities and killing wildlife. Cell damaging microplastics have been found in human blood, breast milk, and placentas. At the United Nations Environmental Assembly in March 2022, governments officially adopted a mandate opening negotiations for a global, legally-binding Plastics Treaty to address the whole lifecycle of plastics.
The 5th Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on plastic pollution, held in Busan, South Korea in 2024, failed to reach a consensus. Plastics producers at the INC-5 talks resisted curbs on production that others insist are essential. India opposed curbing the production of primary plastic polymers, saying such measures could hinder the nation’s right to development. Countries like Iran and China echoed these concerns, calling for less punitive measures. Petro states like Saudi Arabia and Russia aligned with India, pushing back against production restrictions.
This August, INC 5.2 Plastic Treaty Talks are taking place in Geneva. Due to attend are 234 lobbyists from the oil, petrochemical and plastics industries - outnumbering the combined delegations of all 27 EU member states, scientists and Indigenous peoples. “Fossil fuel companies are central to plastic production, as over 99% of plastics are derived from chemicals sourced from fossil fuels,” said Ximena Banegas, Ciel’s global plastics and petrochemicals campaigner. “After decades of obstruction in the climate negotiations, why would anyone think that they would suddenly show up in good faith in the plastics treaty talks?” Read more here...
More facts about plastic below...
Facts
Only 9% of plastic is recycled. The triangular chasing-arrows symbol, ♲, does NOT mean the marked item can be recycled. The number inside the symbol denotes only the type of plastic. Many types have to be removed from recycling streams and sent to landfill or incineration. In a 2020 USA survey conducted by Greenpeace of the nation’s 367 material recovery facilities (MRFs), they found that only PET #1 and HDPE #2 plastic bottles and jugs could be recycled. All other plastics are being sent to landfill or incinerator.
Additionally, an NPR and PBS investigation found that the plastics industry lobbied states to have the recycling symbol appear on all plastic, even if there was no way to economically recycle it. REPEAT: The main lobbyist for this misleading symbol is the plastics industry because it creates an illusion that it is OK to use plastics.
50% of plastics are single-use.
Microplastics were found in the blood of 80% of people tested in a recent study.
The UK has the world’s second highest production of plastic, per head.
The equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world's oceans, rivers and lakes, every day.
According to estimates, 5-10% of the plastic fibres from Artificial Grass are lost as microplastics every year. For a full size pitch, that means 0.55 to 1.1 tonnes of plastics being shed every year.
A strong Global Plastics Treaty would keep oil and gas used to produce plastics in the ground, and stop never-ending plastic production.
Join us from home
to add pressure and spread the message
Under 5 minutes
Read
The call to the Global Plastics Treaty negotiators, to tackle multiple crises.
Why we need to do more: facts you should know, in an article from Global Citizen.
Help Greenpeace reach 600,000 signatures backing their demand for an ambitious and strong Global Plastics Treaty, to be sent to Steven Reed Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Sign the 38 Degree petition to Steve Reed to ban single-use packaging in restaurants, cafés, and bars in the UK.
Sign up to become an ocean advocate, with Oceana.org. Receive emails about ways you can take action, ocean news, and more that will help you make the most impact for the oceans.
Sign up for Do-It-At-Home action emails. These will tell you about impactful actions you can take from wherever you are, if you can't make it to the actions on the streets.
Under 30 Minutes
60+ Minutes
Start a Fund Raiser. The funds you raise will help clean up trash in the ocean, and intercept it in rivers with non-profit project The Ocean Clean-Up.
Watch Plastic Wars documentary
Microplastic risk assessment for your business.
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