UN seeks a complete ban on single-use plastic bags

Less than a 10th of all the plastic ever made has been recycled, and governments should consider banning or taxing single-use bags or food containers.

That is the damning claim that has emerged from a UN study that’s been billed as the most comprehensive review of government action to curb single-use plastics.

It found that up to 5 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year. Spread out side-by-side, they would cover an area twice the size of France.

More than sixty nations are now taking action to reduce plastic pollution, according to the report. 

However, policies to curb plastic waste in many nations have failed because of poor enforcement.

Governments should consider banning or taxing single-use bags or food containers. That is the damning claim that has emerged from a study that’s been billed as the most comprehensive review of government action to curb single-use plastics

The report has been released on World Environment Day, which this year is based in India and is focusing on plastic pollution. 

‘If you can’t reuse it, refuse it’ is the slogan of the report, compiled by the UN alongside the Indian government and launched today. 

Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment, said in the report: ‘The scourge of plastic has reached every corner of the Earth.’

‘Only nine per cent of the nine billion tonnes of plastic the world has ever produced has been recycled,’ the report said. 

‘Most ends up in landfills, dumps or in the environment.’

China is the biggest source of plastic packaging waste, ahead of the European Union and the United States.  

Erik Solheim (pictured), head of UN Environment, said in the report: ‘The scourge of plastic has reached every corner of the Earth’

The report found that up to 5 trillion plastic bags were used worldwide each year. Spread out side-by-side, they would cover an area twice the size of France

India is hosting this year’s World Environment Day. This picture, taken in Gwahati, India yesterday shows cows and a phalanx of storks rummaging through a heap of plastic waste 

Per capita, however, the United States produces most, ahead of Japan and the EU.

But there are signs of action to limit plastic pollution, which harms life in the oceans, contaminates soils and releases toxic chemicals when burnt.

‘Targeted levies and bans – where properly planned and enforced – have been among the most effective strategies to limit overuse of disposable plastic products,’ the report said.

Elisa Tonda, who leads the UN Environment’s Sustainable Lifestyle programme, said more than 60 countries had bans or charges on single-use plastics such as bags or polystyrene containers.

China is the biggest source of plastic packaging waste, ahead of the European Union and the United States. These Indonesian scavengers are looking anything that is salvageable from a mound of rubbish

Plastic bags litter the shores of a Vietnam beach. More than 60 countries now have bans or charges on single-use plastics such as bags or polystyrene containers

A child in Manila looks out over over a creek overrun with plastic. Plastic bottles, carrier bags and food packaging are the most commonly found forms of plastic waste 

Thirty per cent of countries found sharp drops in plastic bag consumption in the first year after imposing restrictions, while 20 per cent saw little or no change. 

In half of the cases, however, governments failed to gauge the effects of restrictions, the report said.

Among its recommendations, the report called for better sorting of waste and recycling, economic incentives to promote eco-friendly alternatives to plastics, education of consumers and promotion of reusable products.

The report also found other cultural side-effects.

In South Africa, plastic litter is jokingly referred to as ‘the new national flower’.

In Ireland, windblown plastic bags caught in trees are referred to as ‘witch’s knickers’.  

HOW DAMAGING ARE PLASTIC BOTTLES?  

Of 30 billion plastic bottles used by UK households each year, only 57 per cent are currently recycled.

With half of these going to landfill, half of all plastic bottles that are recycled go to waste.

Around 700,000 plastic bottles a day end up as litter.

This is largely due to plastic wrapping around bottles that are non-recyclable.

Bottles are a major contributor to the increasing amount of plastic waste in the world’s oceans. 

Researchers warned eight million tonnes of plastics currently find their way into the ocean every year – the equivalent of one truckload every minute. 

The amount of plastic rubbish in the world’s oceans will outweigh fish by 2050 unless the world takes drastic action to further recycle, a report released in 2016 revealed. 

At current rates, this will worsen to four truckloads per minute in 2050 and outstrip native life to become the largest mass inhabiting the oceans.

An overwhelming 95 per cent of plastic packaging – worth £65 – £92billion – is lost to the economy after a single use, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation report stated.

And available research estimates that there are more than 150 million tonnes of plastics in the ocean today.

Plastic pollution is ruining the ecosystems of the world, both marine and terrestrial. It litters shorelines, snags animals and suffocates entire populations of animals  

So much plastic is dumped into the sea each year that it would fill five carrier bags for every foot of coastline on the planet, scientists have warned. 

More than half of the plastic waste that flows into the oceans comes from just five countries: China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. 

The only industrialized western country on the list of top 20 plastic polluters is the United States at No. 20. 

The US and Europe are not mismanaging their collected waste, so the plastic trash coming from those countries is due to litter, researchers said.

While China is responsible for 2.4 million tons of plastic that makes its way into the ocean, nearly 28 percent of the world total, the United States contributes just 77,000 tons, which is less than one percent, according to the study published in the journal Science.

Thirty per cent of countries found sharp drops in plastic bag consumption in the first year after imposing restrictions, while 20 per cent saw little or no change. In half of the cases, however, governments failed to gauge the effects of restrictions, the report said

The report called for better sorting of waste and recycling, economic incentives to promote eco-friendly alternatives to plastics, education of consumers and promotion of reusable products

Plastic is encroaching an ecosystems and environments around the world. 

Divers uncovered a plastic bag 36,000ft (10,898m) below the surface of the Pacific in the Mariana Trench, the world’s deepest ocean trench. 

The find, made more than 620 miles (1,000km) from the mainland, reveals the true horror of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans, environmental experts warn. 

The carrier bag in question was found deeper than 33 Eiffel towers, laid tip to base and was spotted on May 20 1998. 

The plastic bag was singled out as the deepest and most extreme example of ocean debris uncovered by the research team scouring three decades’ of evidence.  

Plastic is encroaching an ecosystems and environments around the world but the report also found cultural side-effects. In South Africa, plastic litter is jokingly referred to as ‘the new national flower’ 

This inconspicuous piece of plastic waste was found on May 20, 1998 (pictured). It shows the fragmented remains of a carrier bag that has sunk to the bottom of the world and come to rest at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, some 36,000ft (10,898m) below the surface

The carrier bag in the Mariana Trench was found deeper than 33 Eiffel towers, laid tip to base. The plastic bag was one of 3,000 pieces of man made debris discovered by researchers studying records of deep ocean pollution dating back 30 years