Page 22 - bne IntelliNews monthly magazine December 2024

22 I Companies & Markets bne December 2024
Plastic pollution in Ghana / Muntaka Chasant
bne:Green
UN talks start in South Korea on plastics pollution as waste chokes planet
bne IntelliNews
Ahighly anticipated week of UN talks on plastic pollution has started in Busan, South Korea. The summit is officially called the fifth Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee discussions.
The event is a last chance to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the oceans.
But there are more plastics lobbyists at the conference than from any other grouping – that is, they are the single biggest delegation, says The Guardian.
According to the newspaper, the Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL) has counted 220 fossil fuel and chemical industry representatives at the event, which opened on November 25. They emphasise ‘waste management’ –
or recycling – instead of production cuts.
Little plastic can be effectively recycled.
www.bne.eu
Around 460mn tonnes of plastics are produced globally every year, and if growth rates are unchanged, production will have tripled by 2060.
Since 2000, plastic waste has grown more than 200% from 156mn tonnes to 353mn tonnes in 2019. Only 9% was recycled, said an OECD report cited by The Guardian. Only 12% have been incinerated, and the balance is in landfills or in environment, often the ocean, says Politico.
As much as 199mn tonnes of plastic is in the oceans, equal to the weight of around 1mn blue whales – and up to 10mn tonnes is dumped in the oceans every single year, adds Politico.
More than 170 countries and over 600 observer organisations have registered for the talks.
“Our world is drowning in plastic pollution. Every year, we produce 460mn tonnes of plastic, much of which is quickly thrown away,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres via