A legally binding treaty to fight the plastic problem

Zero: The Climate Race

Bloomberg

Technology, Business, Science

4.7 • 219 Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2024

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The plastic problem is everywhere: in our oceans, communities, even inside our bodies. Plastic is abundant and very cheap, and the amount we produce is expected to triple by 2060 from 430 million tons a year to 1.2 billion tons, according to the OECD. The large amount of plastic could produce four billion tons of greenhouse gases, so a fix is becoming increasingly necessary. This week, Bloomberg Green senior reporter Akshat Rathi sat down with Inger Andersen, head of the UN’s Environment Program, to talk about an upcoming treaty that tackles increasing levels of plastic. You can read the transcript of this conversation here.

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd and our senior producer is Christine Driscoll. Special thanks to Kira Bindrim, Leslie Kaufman and Tiffany Tsoi. Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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Transcript

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0:01.0	Welcome to Zero.
0:02.0	I am Akshadrati.
0:03.0	This week, a plan for plastic pollution.
0:06.0	Climate change is a pollution. We spew too much greenhouse gases into the air and it heats up the planet.
0:26.6	The trouble is greenhouse gases are invisible and that can make it very hard to describe the scale of the problem.
0:32.6	The same is not true of plastic pollution, which is everywhere.
0:39.0	Plastic that is littered on the land washes into the oceans, slowly breaks down into
0:43.0	microplastics and then travels to the furthest corners of the globe.
0:48.2	In 2022, a study was published showing that microplastics had been found in Antarctic
0:54.0	snow. It's also been found in every organ of the body, including the brain.
0:59.0	Plastic is abundant and very cheap, and on current trends, the amount we produce is set to triple by 2060,
1:06.0	from 430 million tons a year today to 1.2 billion tons according to the OECD.
1:12.8	And if that plastic is not managed, we'll see much more of it polluting our lands, oceans
1:17.4	and bodies.
1:19.3	It's also not just about human health, there's an impact on climate.
1:24.1	1.2 billion tons of plastic would produce as much as 4 billion tons of greenhouse gases.
1:29.3	So there needs to be a fix.
1:32.0	The deal has to ensure that we reduce the avoidable and the eliminatable, if there is such a word.
1:38.7	But this cannot be, and some parties would like it to be, just a recycling treaty.
1:44.5	That's Inger Anderson, head of the United Nations Environment Program.
1:49.0	And for the last 18 months, she has been working on a new global treaty to reduce plastic pollution.
1:55.3	At the end of last year, the first version of the agreement was sent to negotiators.
	...

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