In a show of teeth over its commitment to a circular economy, the European Union has signed the Bridge to Busan Declaration – a bold new step toward an international, legally binding instrument that will moderate the production of primary plastic polymers and tackle the impacts of plastic pollution.
With the production of primary plastic polymers expected to increase ‘exponentially’ through 2050 if left unaddressed, it’s feared that national waste management and recycling programmes could simply be overloaded by high waste levels.
The Declaration cites findings that the world will be unable to end plastic pollution and limit global average temperature rises to less than 1.5C if this unsustainable production of primary plastic polymers goes unresolved.
Addressing this unsustainable production of primary plastic polymers is not only essential to ending plastic pollution across the globe, but it also represents one of the most efficient and cost-effective approaches to doing so.
Signatories of the Declaration believe the burden of efforts should be equitably distributed between countries, ensuring that each has a part to play across the full plastic life cycle. Among the Declaration’s aims is to keep the rate of primary plastic polymers production proportionate to the vision of a circular economy for plastics.
The European Union signalled its intent to join the Bridge to Busan Declaration at the end of INC-4, the most recent discussions had across the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on the pathway to establishing a Global Plastics Treaty. The Declaration itself aligns with the mandate of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) Resolution 5/14, which displays similar aspirations to introduce worldwide restrictions on pollution across the full plastic waste life cycle.
In signing the Declaration ahead of the fifth and final round of discussions – set to be held in Busan in South Korea this December – the EU joins 33 other signatories, encompassing Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, South America, and the Caribbean. Stakeholders include A Plastic Planet, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the Polish Zero Waste Association, the Innovation Alliance for a Global Plastics Treaty, and WWF.
Organisations interested in bringing an end to global plastic pollution through an established and legally binding instrument to moderate the production of primary plastic polymers can sign the Declaration here.
It’s according to internationally recognised research that unprecedented growth in the production and use of plastics is triggering a global environmental crisis. Each year, up to 12 million tonnes of plastics leak into the ocean, an amount set to quadruple by 2050 unless major reform is put in place.
Already, over 900 species are known to have ingested or been entangled in marine plastic pollution, killing hundreds of thousands of animals every year. Around 200 million tonnes of plastic are already in the oceans and 51 trillion plastic particles are already present in surface waters alone.But plastic pollution is also affecting freshwater, climate stability, soils, and public health with widespread economic and social impacts, too.
