Coming years ‘critical’ to slash plastic pollution: UN

The world must halve single-use plastics and slash throwaway consumption to stem the tide of environmental pollution, according to a UN report on Tuesday that warns the next few years are critical.

Concern is growing about the impacts of plastics, with microplastic fragments found from the deepest oceans trenches to the top of Mount Everest.

In humans, they have been detected in blood, breast milk and placentas.

The report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) comes two weeks before negotiators from nearly 200 countries meet in Paris for a new round of negotiations aimed at reaching a legal agreement next year to end plastic pollution. It lays out a three-pronged plan based on reuse, recycling and diversifying the materials used -- to help slash plastic pollution 80 per cent by 2040 overall and cut single-use plastic production by half.

The report cited research estimating plastic could emit 19 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

That would essentially prevent the world from meeting its Paris Agreement commitment to limit the rise in the planet’s average surface temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level.