Of the 7 billion tons of plastic waste generated worldwide, less than 10% has been recycled. Without policy intervention, the amount of plastic in the ocean could increase to 100 million to 250 million tons by 2025. Based on current trends, it is expected that the annual global plastic production may increase to more than 1 billion tons in the next 40 years, and the amount of plastic waste generated will continue to grow. Plastic pollution is a global challenge that has an adverse impact on the sustainable development of the environment, society and economy. However, due to the long plastic industry chain, wide application fields, and complex and diverse types, solving the plastic pollution problem has become very complicated.
Plastics are cheap and have excellent performance. They have been used in all aspects of life. The complex variety of plastics and their application methods make it difficult to effectively manage discarded plastics in some scenarios. Although in theory plastics themselves have extremely high recycling value and can be recycled well, there are difficulties in the actual recycling and reuse process. For example, during the recycling and reuse of plastics, oxidation will occur and produce substances such as esters, ethers, ketones, acids, peracids, and perester oxides, which cannot be recycled indefinitely; there is a possibility of contamination by other substances during the recycling process, resulting in the recycled plastics often being downgraded and unable to achieve the same-level recycling.
In addition to the characteristics of plastics themselves, the problem of plastic pollution is also related to people's behavioral norms and social morality, policies and systems, and social management. It is also a political issue - high-income countries usually export a large amount of plastic waste to low-income and lower-middle-income countries. Although the latter produce much less disposable plastic waste per capita, their waste management and plastic pollution control capabilities are far apart.
At present, some member states tend to explain the nature of plastic pollution more in terms of environmental leakage, non-degradability and poor management, but this cannot completely solve the toxicity of plastics themselves, the accumulated pollution, the recycling and treatment of plastics, the health risks caused by plastic pollution, and the institutional and social management issues behind the plastic pollution problem. The report released by UNEP shows that since 2020, the problem of plastic pollution is no longer regarded as a waste or environmental pollution management problem, but as a common challenge in sustainable consumption and production.
At present, global plastic pollution is still continuing to intensify. To think about the nature of plastic pollution, we should start from the entire industrial chain and value chain of plastics, and comprehensively consider plastic application scenarios, the entire life cycle, and economic and social factors; to solve the problem of plastic pollution, we must achieve a thorough transformation of the entire life cycle from raw materials to waste management. Achieving a future without plastic pollution is the common wish of all parties, but the time left for this global "Plastic Treaty" is running out.
