Plastic is forever
We eat plastic, we breathe plastic; plastic particles have even been detected in placentas! So, what do we keep waiting for, it’s time to manage it!
How long is forever?
The life cycle of plastic is measured in hundreds of years. Every minute, the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our ocean and takes up to 450 years to decompose in landfills. But even when it decomposes, plastic actually becomes more resilient in terms of dissemination, breaking down into microplastics and nanoplastics that get carried across the globe by air and water, permeating our ecosystems and food supplies.
However, the truth can’t be denied: plastic is very useful, it provides a cost-effective and durable material used for food containers, medical supplies, and protective gear, among countless other applications.
The issue of waste management is growing both in scale and concerning the public’s awareness of its environmental impacts. Most materials from products and packaging are littered into the environment rather than efficiently recycled. The ocean, which covers more than 70% of our planet, feeds us, serves as the foundation for much of the world’s economy, regulates our climate, and generates most of the oxygen we breathe. However, it has been threatened by climate change, plastic pollution, and marine resources’ overexploitation.
It’s time to use the tools!
Provided to us by global governance and science to learn how to manage plastic, to make it stop swallowing our planet. In the meantime, having already entered into effect in January 2021, the Plastic Waste Amendments provide a singular guideline for the environmentally sound management of plastic waste; nevertheless, it has been demonstrated in the practice that it’s not enough.
Plastic is Forever, so it’s time to get clever about managing it!
It’s the slogan campaigns used at the last Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions COP this past June, to demonstrate that it’s high time we react, in order to create a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution that can be generally useful and applied in each State. The resolution addresses the full lifecycle of plastic, including its production, design, and disposal, and it’s going to be forged by 2024.
Sources
http://www.brsmeas.org/MediaHub/Campaigns/PlasticisForever
http://www.brsmeas.org/MediaHub/News/NewsFeatures/PlasticisForever/tabid/9212/language/en-US/Default.aspx
https://www.un.org/en/delegate/plastic-foreverso-it%E2%80%99s-time-get-clever-about-managing-it
