The global "plastic limit order" will be released by the end of 2024

Plastics are one of the fastest growing materials. By 2050, global plastic production is expected to double to more than 1 billion tons per year. As a result, pollution has increased.

"Poor management on land can result in plastic waste ending up in rivers and being discharged into the ocean." Steve Fletcher, a researcher in Marine policy and economics at the University of Portsmouth in the UK.

Plastic currently accounts for 85% of all Marine litter. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) predicts that the amount of plastic waste in the oceans will nearly triple by 2040, increasing by 23 million to 37 million tons per year.

Faced with such a dire situation, countries have begun to take action. From November 28, representatives from more than 150 countries met in Uruguay for the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to reach a historic global agreement to end plastic pollution.

The meeting is being held because back in March, the UN Environment Assembly unanimously adopted a historic resolution to end plastic pollution - deciding to develop a legally binding international agreement to prevent and reduce plastic pollution worldwide. The agreement will cover the full life cycle management of plastics, including plastic production, packaging, products and business models.

The deal is expected to be concluded by the end of 2024. In the meantime, delegates face the daunting task of meeting to agree on rules and strategies to control plastic pollution.

According to Linda Godfrey, chief scientist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa, it will be a game between ngos, which want to ban single-use plastics and find safer alternatives, and the plastics industry, which believes that the pollution problem can be solved by improving the way waste is recycled. So agreement negotiators will have to weigh and deal with these issues.

In an interview with Nature, relevant experts and scholars put forward suggestions for the development of the agreement, such as banning the transfer of plastic waste from high-income countries to low-income countries; Requiring manufacturers to pay for the costs of collecting, sorting and recycling plastics; Set deadlines for countries participating in the agreement to reduce plastic use; Start a circular economy for plastics by imposing a surcharge on countries to produce plastic polymers and using the funds to support plastic recycling; Requiring retailers of plastic products to buy back plastic waste and reuse it; Countries have introduced regulations to punish companies that cause plastic pollution.