Plastic Removal Technologies (PRTs) promise to improve environmental quality by removing plastics from the environment, but they can also threaten biodiversity. Almost no environmental impact assessments (EIAs) are done on PRTs.
Unselective PRTs can alter habitats and catch plants and animals. Manual collection selectively removes plastic, but it is limited in efficiency and effectiveness. Municipalities and communities ultimately bear the burden of plastics removal. Some PRT examples are discussed in this fact sheet.
Access to reliable scientific information is essential for the success of the UN Global Plastic Treaty. It is needed via working groups to support negotiations now, and in the longer term via a dedicated subsidiary body to the Treaty. This policy brief sets out the rationale, provides a timeline for implementation, and suggests how the[…]
The UN international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution (UNEA resolution 5/14) aims to reduce plastics pollution. However, midstream and downstream assessments show that optimizing waste management, removal technologies, and improved circularity is not sufficient to curb plastics pollution in the short-, mid- or long-term. Therefore, we have to look upstream to the root of[…]
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This fact sheet provides an overview over the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution we are facing.
Scientists’ Coalition’s response to the revised draft text of the international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (UNEP/PP/INC.4/3). Download the full response (English) Download the Summary of the Revised Zero Draft (English) Download the Summary of the Revised Zero Draft (French) The Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastic Treaty expresses[…]