The break free from plastic pollution act

175 Nations signed an environmental treaty to tackle plastic pollution at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi, Kenya on March 2nd, 2022

The treaty aims to look encompassingly at all stages of plastic’s life cycle, from production to consumption and disposal, with elements of the treaty that are legally binding, creating accountability that could fuel action. 

 “The best way to tackle plastic pollution is to prevent it in the first place. By covering the whole supply chain, a global agreement to tackle plastic pollution can support upstream solutions such as reducing or replacing plastic in products.”

-  Steve Fletcher at the University of Portsmouth, UK

While world leaders hailed the resolution on plastic as ‘historic’ describing it as “the most significant environmental multilateral deal since the Paris accord,” there is much work to be done. 

"The hard work has just begun. World leaders must now show even more resolve in developing and implementing a treaty, which addresses our current plastic pollution crisis, and enables an effective transition to a circular economy for plastic.”

- Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International 

Read the drafted resolution here. 

Turn off the Tap

An art installation at the 2022 Environment Assembly by Canadian activist and artist, Benjamin Von Wong, was a symbol of the need to stop plastic production.

“This project, in particular, is under a hashtag called "turn off the plastic tap" which is an invitation that we need to stop plastic production instead of worrying about the downstream consequences of plastics,” says Wong.

According to United Nations, Environmental Programme, (UNEP) about a million plastic bottles are bought per minute and about five trillion plastic bags are used annually across the globe.