Ending Plastic Pollution

Thousands of Albatross chicks like this one are found dead with plastic in their stomach every year. (CHRIS JORDAN)

Plastic bags were frist introduced to consumers in the 1950s. After decades of mass production of plastics, disposable plastics became a sort of “fashionable lifestyle,” but few were aware that plastic, as an inexpensive, lightweight material, was quickly becoming an enormous problem posing threat to the ecosystem of our planet.

Data released by the United Nations in 2021 showed that an estimated nearly 100 million metric tons of plastic is currently found in the world’s oceans, and that around 9-14 million metric tons of plastic pieces are dumped into the oceans every year, accounting for 85 percent of marine litter. By 2050, plastics will likely outweigh fsiih in the sea. Oceans plagued by increasing plastic pollution will threaten the survival of all marine life and even humans.

To end plastic pollution, a historic resolution entitled “End Plastic Pollution: Towards an internationally legally binding instrument” was adopted at the resumed ffiith session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) in March 2022, with the purpose of forging an international legally binding agreement to combat plastic pollution by the end of 2024. The friist round of intergovernmental negotiations for the adoption of a global treaty on plastic already started in Uruguay this November. Ending plastic pollution is no easy task and humanity must act together.