A UN report warned that the next few years are critical, urging reducing the use of single-use plastics by half and slashing throwaway consumption to stem the tide of environmental pollution.

Concern is growing about the effects of plastics, with microplastic fragments detected from the deepest ocean trenches to the top of Mount Everest.

In humans, they have been found in blood, breast milk, and placentas.

The report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) comes two weeks before negotiators from nearly 200 countries meet in Paris for a new round of negotiations that aims at reaching a legal agreement next year to end plastic pollution.

The global production of #plastic is measured in millions of metric tons. The majority of the plastic #garbage that is left over eventually finds its way into our oceans, even if half of it is recycled, burned, or dumped in landfills. pic.twitter.com/i90dQKqJ9B

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) March 18, 2023

It outlines a three-pronged strategy focused on reuse, recycling, and diversifying the materials used to help reduce single-use plastic output by half by 2040 and total plastic pollution by 80%.

The report cited research projecting plastic could emit 19% of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. 

That would virtually preclude the world from keeping its promise under the Paris Agreement to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. 

"The way we produce, use, and dispose of plastics is polluting ecosystems, creating risks for human health, and destabilizing the climate," said Inger Andersen, UNEP executive director, as quoted by AFP.

She added that the roadmap laid out in the report "dramatically reduces these risks, through adopting a circular approach that keeps plastics out of ecosystems, out of our bodies and in the economy."

Approximately half of it was mishandled, with the majority being dumped in the environment or burnt. Around 238 million metric tonnes (mmt) of garbage from short-lived plastics, such as packaging that ends up in municipal waste, were created globally in 2020. 

UNEP forecasts yearly plastic waste to reach 408 mmt by 2040 if no substantial adjustments are made, including 380 mmt of new fossil-fuel-based polymers. That equates to 227 mmt of plastics ending up in the environment. 

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The report forecasts that with a range of "systems change" solutions, that pollution figure could be reduced to 41 mmt. 

"The next three to five years present a critical window for action to set the world on the path towards implementing the systems change scenario by 2040," it warned.  

Reuse to cut pollution by 30% by 2040

Reuse -- as opposed to recycling -- was specified as the most effective measure and would cut plastic pollution up to 30 percent by 2040 with the introduction of things like refillable water bottles, packaging take-back schemes, and "reverse vending machines."

While governments must incentivize the move and shops must make it simpler to return packaging, customers must also "forego the convenience of disposable and become accustomed to products looking less shiny."

The analysis showed that actions such as the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies and the implementation of design regulations to make goods easier to treat may reduce pollution by a fifth. 

Replacement of plastics with alternatives such as paper or other biodegradable materials would result in an additional 17 percent reduction. 

The remaining pollution reductions would come from improved disposal of non-recyclable plastics, which, according to UNEP, would need higher design and safety regulations, as well as legislation holding manufacturers accountable for goods that shed microplastics, for example.

The report projects that while there would be notable costs to implementing such sweeping changes, these would be dwarfed by the economic benefits, including from reducing the impacts of pollution on health, climate, air pollution, and marine ecosystem degradation. 

However, some campaigners argued the report was not ambitious enough in so far as it supposes plastic use will resume at notable levels.

"They have tried to change a pipe, change the valves or whatever, but they are not trying to actually turn off the tap," said Hirotaka Koike, of Greenpeace.

"They are not talking about reduction of the production."

He did, however, applaud the report's warnings against plastics mislabeled as "degradable, compostable", as well as its support for the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies, which make it cheaper to create new plastic than to recycle.

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