The plastic pollution crisis has been an ongoing issue, but the urgency to reform or change it has been less of a motivational force. More recently, the threats caused by plastic pollution is being viewed as equal to that of climate change. With every element humans come into contact with, microplastics have found their way in; through air, soil, water, and food. Higher rates of death amongst wild animals have been reported which attributes to their consumption of plastic waste. While nations have been urged to agree to a UN treaty with binding targets to reduce the production of plastic and its waste, the collective amount will exceed the amount of fish in the oceans by 2040 if changes do not take effect immediately. A new treaty has been discussed between 100+ countries to be proposed at the next UN Environment assembly, in February and March. There is opposition as to how strict the treaty should be, and how binding. There are still many countries that are opposed to ceasing the production of plastic as it’s their biggest source of resource income. Another solution has been to create a legitimate waste collection that effectively distributes and sorts the waste to the correct recycling system. Regardless of the outcome, the solution needs to be implemented right away otherwise irredeemable damages will be caused by plastic pollution to our environment.
Photo by: Polina Tankilevitch
