More than 11 million metric tons of plastic are flowing into the ocean each year. Once it is there, it’s almost impossible to remove. And it continues to break down. Macroplastics become microplastics, and microplastics become nanoplastics.
It’s not good for people, or the planet.
It’s been estimated that 90% of all seabirds ingest plastic at some point in their lives. Starting as chicks.
More than half the world’s marine mammal species, including dolphins, whales and seals, have been found to have eaten plastic. As have all species of sea turtles.
Not all of them die, but all of them suffer from it.
It’s not just the plastic they eat. Entanglement, smothering and slow poisoning from leached chemicals, all cause sickness, weakness, injury, and death.
Plastic in the ocean is pervasive and increasing.
The time has come to end it.
It needs a global solution.
In November 2024, governments came together in Busan, Republic of Korea, for the fifth and last round of negotiations for a global treaty to end plastic pollution. They failed to reach an agreement despite a vast majority of governments demanding ambitious measures that science has shown can stop plastic pollution.
WWF calls on countries to unite on the necessary binding upstream measures to end plastic pollution, develop the lists of products and chemicals to be banned, and to conclude the negotiation process as soon as possible.
Essential measures of a future agreement must include global bans and phaseouts of harmful plastics and chemicals, global product design, a robust finance mechanism, and means for strengthening the treaty over time.
As we look ahead to 2025, and navigate what an INC 5.2 could look like, countries must come to the table ready to fight for our future. The current draft has some of the ingredients for success, but we can’t back down on delivering a legally binding text that finally puts us on a course to eliminate plastic pollution
In March 2022, UN Member States agreed on a mandate to negotiate a legally binding global treaty to end plastic pollution.
As world leaders prepare for the fifth and final negotiations, the urgency of the situation is clear: plastic pollution continues to ravage our planet, destroying ecosystems and wildlife populations, fuelling climate change and infiltrating our bodies through the air we breathe and the food and water we consume. Since the start of the negotiations alone, nearly 20 million metric tonnes of plastics have entered our ocean.
The international community must keep the promise they made to end the plastic crisis. This must be the moment our leaders decide on bold, binding global actions across the entire plastic lifecycle to protect nature and human health and put our planet on a path to recovery.
Despite the exponential growth in voluntary initiatives and national regulations to tackle plastic pollution, there is no sign that leakage rates are slowing. In order to effectively deal with the plastic crisis, the world needs common rules and standards that address plastic throughout its entire lifecycle.
What does an effective Global Plastics Treaty need to contain?
Read WWF’s reports:
"Towards a Treaty to End Plastic Pollution: Global rules to solve a global problem";
"Putting an end to plastic pollution: WWF's call to urgently regulate high-risk plastic products"
"Who pays for plastic pollution? Enabling global equity in the plastic value chain"
"A Global Treaty to End Plastic Pollution that people and nature need"