-
Environment Secretary
highlights how the UK will champion ending plastic pollution by
2040
The Environment Secretary has
today started talks with businesses, environmental groups,
scientists and civil society on shaping a legally-binding global
treaty that aims to end plastic pollution by 2040.
Plastic pollution is one of the
greatest global environmental challenges we currently face and it
is predicted that unless action is taken there will be a
threefold increase in the amount of plastic flowing into the
ocean between 2016 and 2040.
In partnership with the Ocean
Plastics Leadership Network – an organisation comprised of
industry, scientists and activists - the UK Government is running
a series of dialogue meetings which will be key in strengthening
the UK’s leading voice at the treaty negotiations.
At the first meeting,
stakeholders including Tesco, Sainsburys, Coca Cola, Nestle,
H&M and Greenpeace came together to provide their views on
how UK businesses can contribute towards bringing an end to
plastic pollution, and inform the UK’s negotiating position for a
far-reaching treaty.
The international treaty will
set obligations on countries to reduce pollution across the whole
plastics lifecycle - from production and consumption to disposal
and waste management. The first formal negotiations will take
place on 28 November to 2 December 2022 in Uruguay and will be
facilitated by the United Nations Environment Programme.
Environment Secretary
Thérèse Coffey said:
“Plastic pollution has a direct
and deadly effect on our wildlife, polluting our ocean and
damaging our planet.
“Our laws are already helping
to cut waste domestically, and international action is needed to
end plastic pollution by 2040.
“Today’s meeting was important
in bringing together government, business and environmental
organisations on this issue – it’s vital for us all to work
together if we are to make progress in tackling plastic pollution
globally.”
Dave Ford, Founder,
Ocean Plastics Leadership Network
said:
"We are honoured to collaborate
with the UK Government on the UK Plastics Treaty
Dialogues.
“Our objective with the series
is to build knowledge and understanding of the UN Global
Treaty process and various solutions, to help unite the myriad of
stakeholders in working together in efforts to solve the
plastics crisis.
“We aim to expand this effort
to 20 countries worldwide."
Current commitments around the
world will only reduce the annual discharge of plastic into the
ocean by 7% by 2040, according to the Breaking the Plastic Wave
report published by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The
only way to achieve a significant reduction in the flow of
plastic into the environment is by taking action across the whole
lifecycle of plastic, reducing our consumption of plastic,
re-using plastic products and improving waste management
systems.
The UK has been a leading voice
in attempts to tackle marine plastic pollution, co-sponsoring the proposal to prepare a new
treaty and being a founding member of the High
Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, a group of more than
30 countries calling for a target under the treaty to stop
plastic from flowing into our lands and ocean by 2040.
This builds on the UK’s
world-leading efforts to tackle plastic pollution at home. We
have so far introduced a plastic packaging tax on packaging that
contains less than 30% recycled plastic, a ban on microbeads in
rinse-off personal care products, and measures to restrict the
supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers and
plastic-stemmed cotton buds.
Our carrier bag charge has
reduced the use of single-use carrier bags in the main
supermarkets by over 95%. We plan to go even further through our
Environment Act, which enables us to change the way we manage our
waste. Through the introduction of extended producer
responsibility for packaging, we will ensure producers cover the
costs of collecting and managing plastic waste.
The Environment Act also gives
us powers to introduce deposit return schemes, establish greater
consistency in the recycling system, better control the export of
plastic waste and introduce charges for single-use
items.
