ITS EDUCATION ASIA ARTICLE

End plastic production

By Danny Harrington, MD ITS Education Asia

A report in the Guardian highlights the need for a binding global treaty … to phase out the production of “virgin” or new plastic by 2040. The solution to the blight of plastic pollution in the oceans and on land would be a worldwide agreement on limits and controls, says a special report in the journal Science.

Since the 1950s about 8bn tonnes of plastic has been produced. The effects are everywhere. One of the reports authors, Nils Simon, said: “Plastics are ubiquitously found in increasing amounts worldwide, including in terrestrial environments and even inside the human body.”