Hugo-Maria Schally, head of the Multilateral Department for Environmental Cooperation at the European Commission, said that the EU had for some time been in favour of a stronger global framework to combat marine waste and pollution of marine plastic and marine pollution, and that the lack of US participation remained a major obstacle. At European level, the EIS, as a member of the Rethink Plastic Alliance, has been and remains very active in the European strategy for plastics in a circular economy. These include work on legislative revisions in the circular economy package, such as the revision of the Waste Transfer Regulation, as well as the recent Single-Use Plastics Directive, which covers plastic items and single-use fishing gear, and the Port Reception Facilities Directive. , which targets plastic waste from marine sources. We recognize that Appendix V of the 1973 International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution by Ships, as amended by the 1978 Protocol (MARPOL), is an international convention dealing with plastic pollution. MARPOL, which prohibits ships from rejecting plastic at sea, was a big step forward. However, since MARPOL came into force in 1988, the oceans have not benefited from a reduction in plastic pollution. Instead, emissions accelerated at a rate equivalent to plastic production (3). This is because Appendix V is limited to sea-scale emissions and 80% of the plastic is dumped into the Sea of Semeère (3) from land. No, the EIS is not trying to ban all plastics. Plastic is used for many purposes in our societies and in different sectors and sectors. Some of these applications are very functional and would be difficult to replace – as for some medical applications – but not many. Every day, millions of tons of disposable packaging and items flock to the market to be used once and then disposed of quickly.
It is totally wasted and it represents an unnecessary and totally avoidable environmental and social risk. For plastics on the market, they should be safe for use and recycling. Plastic pollution has not received much attention for international agreements, in stark contrast to carbon emissions and other global pollutants such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs). There are many regional, national and international strategies to prevent and mitigate plastic pollution, but none have a level of commitment that softens globally and accelerates the growth of the problem.
