Plastic pollution is recognized as being one of the major global environmental challenges today, with a worldwide reach that is affecting essential Earth systems such as the climate and biodiversity. As a result, in March the United Nations Environment Programme declared its intention to develop a treaty by 2024 to “end plastic pollution”. However, although the declaration lays out overall aims for reducing plastic pollution, it does not mention any specific policy measures (see go.nature.com/3rgujfc). An efficient and ambitious treaty has the potential to facilitate the much-needed transition to a circular plastic economy, and mark the beginning of a reduction in the rate of plastic pollution. But to achieve this, it is paramount that the new treaty does not become a doctrine for recycling at the expense of providing a legal foundation for reducing plastic consumption.
For many years, the transition to a circular plastic economy has been understood to require a combination of efforts, often summarized by the mantra ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’. The principles are based on the top three levels of the waste hierarchy, whereby reducing is better than reusing, which is, in turn, more favourable than
— source scientificamerican.com | Kristian Syberg | Dec 13, 2022