Zero tolerance

A plan for zero tolerance of plastic pollution of the oceans may be agreed by UN environment summit. Governments are asked to move towards a legal treaty banning plastic waste from entering the sea. In that moment ships are prohibited from dumping plastic overboard but there’s no international law against plastics flooding into the sea. Expert says ocean plastics are an obvious subject for a global treaty. Plastic pollution does not recognise international borders. Delegates in Nairobi preparing the way for the UN’s environment ministers meeting next week are said that in broad agreement on the need for tougher action to combat the plastics crisis. The UN has already committed to substantial reduction of plastic waste within 2025 but a resolution led by Norway says that the long-term aim must be for zero plastic waste. China the world’s biggest plastics polluter is said to be cautious about being bound by global rules now. India’s prime minister Narendra Modi recently applauded the clean-up of plastic from a beach in Mumbai.

Plastic is one of those issues that clearly needs global agreement with maybe eight million tonnes ending up in the seas.

Plastic flows are huge and damaging. They flow across borders. We absolutely have to stop allowing plastics into the ocean and this meeting looks like it could prove a very important beginning.

The meeting will also discuss about the pollution of the air and water. A global ban on lead in paints may be approved recently.