Can We Drastically Cut Plastic Pollution
The investment costs of the recommended systemic change will be significant, amounting to $65 billion a year. However, a business-as-usual scenario would still cost $113 billion annually, according to UN experts who say necessary investments can be mobilized partly by shifting to new production facilities and a circular economy globally.
“Overall, the shift to a circular economy would result in $1.27 trillion in savings, considering costs and recycling revenues. A further $3.25 trillion would be saved from avoided externalities such as health, climate, air pollution, marine ecosystem degradation, and litigation-related costs,” UNEP says.
“This shift could also result in a net increase of 700,000 jobs by 2040, mostly in low-income countries, significantly improving the livelihoods of millions of workers in informal settings.”
Importantly, the longer actions are put off, the worse plastic pollution will get, with a five-year delay in the implementation of the plan alone leading to an increase of 80 million metric tons of plastic pollution by 2040.
“Internationally agreed policies can help overcome the limits of national planning and business action, sustain a flourishing circular global plastics economy, unlock business opportunities, and create jobs. These may include agreed criteria for plastic products that could be banned, a cross-border knowledge baseline, rules on necessary minimum operating standards of EPR schemes, and other standards,” UNEP says.
Among the report’s recommendations is the establishment of a global fiscal framework to enable recycled materials to compete on a level playing field with virgin materials, create an economy of scale for solutions, and establish monitoring systems and financing mechanisms.
“Crucially, policymakers are encouraged to embrace an approach that integrates regulatory instruments and policies tackling actions across the life cycle, as these are mutually reinforcing towards the goal of transforming the economy. For example, design rules to make products economically recyclable can be combined with targets to incorporate recycled content and fiscal incentives for recycling plants,” UNEP explains.
Article originally published in Sustainability Today.
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