In March 2022, at its fifth session, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) adopted resolution 5/14 titled “End plastic pollution: Towards an international legally binding instrument,” convening an intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) to develop a new global agreement on plastic pollution. Negotiators must now move swiftly to agree to measures across the full lifecycle of plastic to end plastic pollution.
Until the mid-1950s, plastics were precious commodities that were used and treated carefully. But in just 65 years, plastic production has increased by 18,300 per cent – fuelling a relentless convenience lifestyle that produces enormous and unnecessary quantities of waste.
Recent years have witnessed an alarming increase in the illegal trade of plastic waste, with high-income countries consuming plastic products and packaging at unsustainable rates, exporting their plastic waste to developing countries with little capacity and infrastructure to manage it.
For the third year, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Greenpeace UK have surveyed the major supermarkets and grocery retailers in the UK on their efforts to reduce plastic pollution.
For the third year, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Greenpeace UK have surveyed the major supermarkets and grocery retailers in the UK on their efforts to reduce plastic pollution.
Plastic pollution is one of the greatest anthropogenic threats our planet faces and protection of the marine environment is a common concern of humankind.