Legacy plastic production will continue to contaminate the environment – posing risks to humans and animals – even if UN targets to reduce new plastic production are met, scientists have said.
The UN is meeting this week to finalise the Global Plastics Treaty – a legally binding agreement that aims to end plastic pollution by 2040 that will introduce new rules to regulate how plastic is produced and consumed.
But researchers from the University of Cambridge, GNS Science in New Zealand and The Ocean Cleanup in the Netherlands have said that even if global production and pollution of new plastic is drastically reduced, the billions of tonnes of legacy plastic waste already in the environment will continue to break down into tiny particles called microplastics for decades or centuries.
These fragments contaminate oceans, land and the air we breathe, posing risks to marine life, food production and human health.
While the treaty’s initial discussions highlight prevention of plastic pollution...