About the Coalition

Plastic: The material that has invaded our lives

Plastic is everywhere in our daily lives. We use it for its convenience and comfort. It is found in packaging, clothing, medical tools, and many everyday objects.

Its popularity comes from its exceptional qualities: it is lightweight, strong, affordable, and can take any shape and colour. Few materials offer as many advantages at once.

Today, our dependence on plastic is undeniable. On average, each person on Earth uses 50 kilograms of plastic per year. In 2020, global production reached 460 million tonnes, and this number could double by 2060. This is a very worrying path, especially considering that more than 80% of plastics become waste in less than a year.

The dramatic increase in plastic consumption causes environmental damage at every stage of the material’s life cycle. From the production of plastic pellets used in industry, to insufficient waste management, and through to the daily consumption of plastic objects. At every stage microplastics and pollutants escape into nature.

Plastic pollution: A global threat without borders

Plastics escapes into the environment and cause both visible pollution — such as the waste stranded on beaches — and invisible pollution — like the microplastics present in the air we breathe and the water we drink—. A large number of scientific studies show that plastic is now found everywhere on Earth: from the highest mountain peaks to the ocean depths, in rivers, soils, the atmosphere, and even inside living organisms.

Humanity seems overwhelmed by the scale of this pollution, which is directly linked to our lifestyles and consumption habits. Along the coasts, plastic pellets lost at sea wash up on our shores. Ocean wildlife such as dolphins and seabirds are trapped by nets or ingest debris. Natural sites, disfigured by plastic waste and discarded synthetic clothing, lose their beauty and, consequently, their appeal to both residents and tourists.

In countries lacking adequate infrastructure to manage waste, it is often people in precarious situations who collect waste to resell it, under difficult social and health conditions. The import of waste from other regions of the world further increases this pressure, leading to local accumulation with significant social, health, and environmental consequences.

Plastic pollution impacts ecosystems, species, local economies, and fundamental rights, making it a striking representation of the global triple crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution of water, soil, and air.

An international treaty to end plastic pollution

Faced with the global challenge of plastic pollution, the international community has answered. On March 2, 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly adopted a historic resolution establishing an intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) composed of nearly 170 countries. This committee is tasked with drafting a legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution.

This future treaty will define measures to reduce pollution by acting at every stage: from the production of plastics — including polymer manufacturing, material simplification, the search for alternatives, and eco-design of products — to their end-of-life management, which includes reducing consumption, reuse, recycling, and environmentally sound handling of non-recyclable waste.

The treaty is also expected to include specific provisions to ensure its effective implementation. It will address financing for combating plastic pollution, concrete mechanisms for international cooperation, technology transfer, information exchange, and evaluation processes.

Ultimately, however, the success of this treaty will depend on its ratification by each state part represented in the negotiating committee.