Switzerland and Ecuador Appeal for Treaty to End the ‘Plastic Crisis’
Microplastics from a river in Maryland, collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association Marine Debris Program. Recent research have now found microplastics in human blood samples.

DAVOS, Switzerland – The presidents of Switzerland and Ecuador led a call here at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Tuesday for greater international cooperation to fight plastic pollution, urging passage of a global treaty with tough regulations to confront a burgeoning environmental and health crisis from the ubiquitous material once seen as a symbol of modernity. 

Swiss President Alain Berset, heading a panel discussion hosted by Switzerland, told a packed room that an international treaty and new “regulatory framework” is needed to get rid of plastics that are clogging the world’s ecosystems, choking oceans and poisoning fish and wildlife – with severe human health consequences. 

“We are facing a major plastic crisis. The world cannot deal with the amount of plastic it produces,” he said. “If we continue on this path there could be more plastic than fish by 2050.”

Berset said the plastic crisis is not only an environmental crisis, but also a health and socioeconomic challenge, “and Switzerland is ready to do its part.”

Plastic pollution
Switzerland’s President Alain Berset at the WEF panel on plastic pollution.

Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso Mendoza noted that his nation and Switzerland are “united by a historic commitment” to work together to end plastics pollution as two of the five countries joining the United Nations Security Council this year.

Japan, Malta, Mozambique are the other three countries elected to a two-year term on the 15-nation Council, the world body’s most powerful arm, based in New York.

“With our commitment we are indeed making history. We must find a solution to the global crisis of plastic waste,” said Lasso Mendoza. “In just a few years, there will be more plastic in our oceans by tons than there is fauna.”

Plastic pollution
Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso Mendoza at the WEF panel on plastic pollution.

In a historic moment in March 2022, the world’s environment ministries agreed to negotiate a treaty on plastics pollution. The decision by some 175 UN member states was reached at the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi.

But the road to approval and ratification of a legal instrument that has teeth promises to be a major lift in light of the powerful oil and gas interests that will oppose it every step of the way.

Political leadership by countries such as Switzerland and Ecuador, in the Security Council and in other UN Fora, will thus be key to making progress in treaty negotiations.  

Fossil fuel producers scale up plastics production

Currently, an estimated 5% of global total goods trade is in plastics, Lasso Mendoza said, citing UN data. But even as knowledge about the enormous environmental and health risks of plastics grows, fossil fuel producers are scaling up their plastics production, with plans to double the production of virgin plastic resin by 2040. 

At current rates, plastics are on track to account for 20% of oil and gas consumption by 2050, according to the UN Environment Programme.

“Political will and leadership are the foundations upon which we must build,” Lasso Mendoza said. “Ecuador takes the fight against plastic very seriously. We need a globally binding treaty. We should reach agreement by the end of 2024.”

 

Over the past 30 years, plastics production increased fourfold, with growth rates still rising exponentially.

Already over the past 30 years, plastic consumption increased four-fold. Although global production of recycled plastics more than quadrupled over the same period, recycled plastics only represent about 6% of global plastics production, while 94% are “virgin” plastics, according to the OECD.

Burgeoning health and environmental impacts 

Plastic waste from an informal landfill litters a rural seascape in Albania while goats graze nearby.

Of the majority of plastic waste that doesn’t get reprocessed and reused, 19% is incinerated, 50% ends up in landfills, and 22% is burned in open pits, with the remainder winding up in uncontrolled dumpsites, scattered along roadsides, farmlands or littering coastal beaches and waters of poorer countries.

A 2021 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) found that plastic contamination of farmland from single-use soil and plant coverings, tubing and other materials, poses an increasing threat to soil quality, food safety and human health.  In 2022, a new study identified microplastics in human blood samples for the first time. 

On the high seas, a recent Nature study found that the blue whales, which typically feed upon krill, may consume some 10 million pieces of microplastics a day, a taste of what other large fish like tuna and salmon are likely eating as well.

Human exposure to plastic additives such as DEHP and Phthalates, which are used to soften polyvinyl chloride (PVC), leads to higher risks of cancer and hormonal disorders that cause reproductive health problems, research has shown.   

Not only are phthalate additives health harmful, but the production of PVC out of fossil fuel-derived ethylene, generates considerable mercury emissions, which are toxic for humans and to wildlife. Along with its uses in waterproof garments and building materials, PVC is ubiquitous in healthcare settings where it is a key component of basic medical devices like IV tubes.

‘Dangerous for all living things

Rwanda’s Environment Minister Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, whose nation has teamed with Norway to eliminate plastic pollution by 2040, told the panel that “plastic pollution is not only dangerous for nature but for all living things, including human beings.”

“No one country can solve the problem alone, she emphasized.

Marco Lambertini, a special envoy for Gland, Switzerland-based World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF), said that negotiations on an international treaty need to be inclusive of governments, businesses, investors and citizens.

“Without everybody, we won’t get anywhere,” he said. “We also need to look at the plastic value chain in its entirety, from production to disposal.”

Plastic pollution
(Left to right): At the WEF panel on plastic pollution, the Graduate Institute’s Carolyn Deere Birkbeck, moderator; WHO’s Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; Rwanda’s Environment Minister Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya; Kristin Hughes of WEF; and Marco Lambertini of WWF.

Developing countries that lack the infrastructure for waste management will need special help, he added, and recycling must be increased globally from its current “outrageous” low of less than 10%.

“I see a real parallel between the phasing out of fossil fuels and the phasing out of fossil fuel- based plastics,” he said. 

Kristin Hughes, director of WEF’s Global Plastic Action Partnership, added: “you don’t just need business, you also need the government component. And they need to work together.”

WHO – ending plastics pollution critical to healthier environment

The World Health Organization’s director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said ending plastics pollution is a critical part of creating a healthier environment for everyone, but more study is needed to determine the range of biological and human health impacts that plastics can and do have.

“I don’t think plastics pollution and health – that connection – has been given the attention it needed,” Tedros said.  “And not only that, we don’t have research that documents well how plastics affect human health throughout the [product] lifecycle. 

“They do actually.”

Image Credits: John Heilprin, Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, Plastics Atlas, 2019, @Antoine Giret/ Unsplash.

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