Call for global treaty to end production of ‘virgin’ plastic by 2040

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A binding global treaty is needed to phase out the production of “virgin” or new plastic by 2040, scientists have said. The solution to the blight of plastic pollution in the oceans and on land would be a worldwide agreement on limits and controls, they say in a special report in the journal Science . Since the 1950s about 8bn tonnes of plastic has been produced. The effects are everywhere. One of the reports authors, Nils Simon, said: “Plastics are ubiquitously found in increasing amounts worldwide, including in terrestrial environments and even inside the human body.” The authors say the very properties that have made plastic an apparently essential modern material also make it a serious environmental threat. Science senior editor Jesse Smith, writes: “As for much new technology, their development and proliferation occurred with little consideration for their impacts, but now it’s impossible to deny their dark side as we confront a rapidly growing plastic pollution problem. “The time for preventing plastic pollution is long past – the time for changing the future of plastics in our world, however, is now.” The report calls for a new global treaty “to cover the entire lifecycle of plastics, from the […]

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