Earth Today | ‘No more business as usual’

WITH annual plastics production and use projected to grow from 435 million tonnes in 2020 to 736 million tonnes in 2040, there is renewed urgency for action to quell their burgeoning flows and growing environmental impact.

A 2024 report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has revealed that half measures will not do.

“Partial measures, such as policy responses focused on enhancing waste management alone or global action with broad policy coverage but with low policy stringency, are likely to fall short of ending plastic pollution, as are policy responses with ambitious action along the lifecycle implemented only in advanced economies,” said the report titled Policy Scenarios for Eliminating Plastic Pollution by 2040.

“Enhancing waste management globally can reduce the share of mismanaged waste to nine per cent by 2040 (compared to 23 per cent in 2020). However, 54 million tonnes of plastic waste would still be mismanaged in 2040. Stringent policy action in advanced economies only is unlikely to reduce mismanaged plastic waste below 2020 levels. Similarly, global action with broad policy coverage, but low policy stringency, is unlikely to significantly alter Baseline trends,” the report added.

“These partial ambition strategies cannot reduce primary plastics production and use below 2020 levels. Mismanaged plastic waste will not be eliminated without highly stringent measures to curb production and demand implemented globally,” it said further.

The report instead champions comprehensive global policies which support a whole of lifecycle approach; and presents scenarios from a set of policy instruments and following four policy pillars, including curbing production and demand; design for circularity; enhancing recycling; and closing leakage pathways, as guidance.

Curbing production and demand addresses measures to enable the avoidance of production and use of unnecessary and problematic plastics, while promoting longer product lifespans, reuse and a shift in the demand for services.

Design for circularity is about making production processes for plastics more circular, including “avoiding the use of problematic materials and hazardous chemicals” while also facilitating “reuse practices, or introducing product standards to improve repairability and substitution away from plastics where environmentally beneficial”.

Enhance recycling is about closing material loops by improving the separate collection, sorting and recycling of plastic waste while closing leakage pathways addresses “losses of plastics into the environment, including via effective waste collection and disposal, as well as improved municipal litter collection and street sweeping”.

Meanwhile, the report has made the case for special consideration for developing countries, particularly with respect of financing.

“The burden of policies and investments required falls more heavily on developing countries, especially those that currently have less advanced waste management systems … regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, are projected to represent an increasing share of global mismanaged waste over time, as the relatively rapid growth of plastics use and waste in these areas would outpace projected improvements waste management systems,” the report said.

“A scaling-up of infrastructural investments is required to eliminate plastic leakage globally, but in particular to enhance waste management in developing countries that currently rely heavily on informal waste management practices and where waste collection rates remain low.

“ODA (overseas development assistance) aimed at curbing plastic pollution has been on the rise in recent years, reflecting the growing public consensus around the severity of the problem and the need to act. However, ODA alone remains largely insufficient when compared to the cumulative investment needs across world regions to tackle plastic pollution,” the document added.

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