www.universalcurrentaffairs.com

UN agrees to "historic" global treaty to end plastic waste.

World leaders from 175 countries have agreed to draw up a legally binding UN treaty that will regulate plastic production and pollution on an international scale for the first time.

Passed at the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, using a recycled plastic gavel, the resolution will see nations hash out a set of universal rules and targets to end plastic waste "from source to sea" – much like the Paris Agreement did for carbon emissions.

To date, the world has generated more than seven billion tonnes of plastic waste. Of this, only nine per cent has been recycled.

Another 12 per cent has been incinerated, releasing the fossil fuels it contains into the atmosphere and contributing to global warming.

But the vast majority, around 79 per cent of all the plastic ever produced, is currently piling up in landfills and polluting the environment, harming marine life and breaking down into microplastics that have found their way into everything from Arctic ice to the placenta of unborn babies.

And this problem is only set to get worse as plastic pollution is on course to triple by 2040.

How exactly the UNEP treaty, which the organisation says marks a "historic day in the campaign to beat plastic pollution," will tackle these issues is set to be nailed down by a dedicated Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee over the next two years. The aim is to produce a draft by the end of 2024.

Source: www.dezeen.com

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