UN urged to tackle plastic trash ‘epidemic’ with treaty

The UN has launched a global effort to create a landmark treaty to get a grip on plastic pollution.

More than 100 nations are expected to agree on a blueprint for the treaty on plastic waste. The UN’s paramount body for the environment heard that plastic had now been found on the remotest beaches, in the air and soil, and within tiny fish and the human bloodstream.

“Plastic pollution has grown into an epidemic of its own,” Norway’s climate and environment minister, Espen Barth Eide, said. 

“The world is watching to see what member states will do over the next few days,” UN Environment Programme (UNEP) chief Inger Andersen told the assembly.

Greenpeace Africa also echoed the concerns saying that plastic trash was “a deadly ticking time bomb” and a global response commensurate to the scale of the problem was “not only critical but non-negotiable.”