Coming Soon:
A New Convention on Plastic Wastes

	Hari Srinivas

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The world community, under the aegis of the United Nations Environment Assembly, has undertaken to develop a global mechanism to tackle the problem of global plastic wastes.

The decision on a proposed multilateral environmental agreement (MEA) on plastics was taken on 2 March 2022. It is envisaged that a draft Plastics MEA will be ready by the end of 2024.

The Plastics MEA will address issues related to the full life-cycle plastics' production and use, and integrate it into the themes of sustainable production and consumption. It will also incorporate the principles of resource efficiency and circular economy in management of plastics waste. Ultimately, a broad and integrated and environmentally sound plastic waste management mechanism will be crucial to tackle the problem and achieve tangible results.

Further information on the Plastics Convention will be uploaded here as it is available.

See UN resolution:
UNEA Resolution 5/14 on “End plastic pollution: Towards an international legally binding instrument”

Plastics: Facts and Figures Globally to date, there is about 8.3 billion tons of plastic in the world – some 6.3 billion tons of that is trash. In 1950, we created 2 million tons of plastic a year, which increased to 400 million tons by 2015. Less than 1/10th of plastics produced is recycled. Only 12% of all plastic has been incinerated. Plastic takes 400 years to degrade. More than half the total amount of plastic produced was only brought to market after 2000. The expectation is that the production will further increase to about 600 million tons in 2025. Worldwide, Coca-Cola produces 167,000 plastic bottles every minute. Only 0.5% of the plastic in the ocean actually floats on the surface of the water. The rest drifts deeper in the water column or lies on the seabed