Resources

Tearfund commissioned Ed Cook from the University of Leeds to undertake an independent academic assessment of eight different approaches to recovering value from plastic waste – ranging from conventional recycling to incineration. They are assessed according to their impact on the environment; public and occupational health; and commercial prevalence and maturity.

The report pulls together recent scientific data on the broad impact of plastics on climate, biodiversity, human health, the environment, and planetary stability to ‘sound the alarm’ on the pollution caused by plastics throughout their lifecycles. ‘Connecting the Dots’ makes recommendations on how to design and ensure effective, long-term and collaborative global policy which considers plastic pollution as a threat to planetary boundaries and takes into account its knock-on impacts on other environmental crises.

Oceana estimates that up to 23.5 million pounds of Amazon’s plastic packaging waste entered and polluted the world’s waterways and oceans in 2020, the equivalent of dumping a delivery van payload of plastic into the oceans every 67 minutes. The report calls on Amazon to reduce its plastic footprint by offering plastic-free packaging as an option at checkout, consistently reporting on its plastic footprint, and eliminating plastic packaging.

As discussions around plastics become more global, we are pleased to present to you our new report 'Plan the Ban' undertaken in 4 cities in India (Pune, Indore, Delhi and Nainital). It is the first of its kind, measuring the impact of removing plastics as a waste and, thereby, as a source of income for wastepicker communities.

Plastic pollution does not respect borders. It is in the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, and even in our bodies. A new binding legal instrument, covering the entire lifecycle of plastic, is required to tackle this planetary crisis.

Faced with increasing pressure from lawmakers and civil society to reduce plastic production and greater awareness of the limits of mechanical recycling, the petrochemical industry has been peddling chemical “recycling” and “plastic-to-fuel” as a primary solution to plastic pollution. However, after billions of dollars and decades of development, these approaches do not work as advertised. A plastics treaty stands to be undermined if it embraces these industry-backed false solutions.

Burning waste emits climate pollution and other toxic chemicals, and is the least energy efficient and most costly method of energy production. A plastics treaty must adopt a moratorium on new incinerators and encourage a roadmap to phase out all existing incinerators by 2030.

The global plastics treaty provides an important opportunity to officially discourage or ban the use of plastic credits before they become widespread. Doing so would avoid the incredible amount of regulatory oversight needs —both in the private and public sectors— to organize and manage international plastic credit markets. The collective efforts could be better spent on reducing plastic production rapidly.

Top exporters such as the United States, Germany, the UK, Japan and Australia are placing a disproportionate toxic burden on the environment and communities in importing countries. A Global Plastics Treaty can enact stricter measures on the waste trade to prevent environmental injustices.

Plastic takes up a large percentage of the waste handled by waste pickers. Consequently, they are one of the most vulnerable occupation groups that stand to be impacted by the global plastics treaty. The treaty must establish the legal frameworks required to improve working conditions for waste pickers.