Stopping Toxic Plastics

It has been just 75 years since plastics were first widely used, yet in that short time, plastic production has caused a global toxic pollution crisis. Now, projections suggest that in the next 35 years, industry will triple the amount of plastics they produce. This is clearly unsustainable and would be disastrous for our health and the healthy environments all people need to thrive.

Harmful chemicals pose health threats throughout the plastics life cycle. Extraction of oil and gas, making petrochemicals, and plastic production all release toxic chemicals that are harmful to human health, with exposures to nearby communities and risks for workers. Consumers are exposed to toxic chemicals when they use plastics. Finally, plastic waste disposal creates more exposure threats. Even recycling creates toxic problems: when plastics are recycled, hazardous chemicals are combined and new harmful chemicals are formed, and this toxic stew ends up in recycled plastic products. 

At the start of talks for a Plastics Treaty, most countries looked at plastics as a downstream problem of ocean litter. But IPEN and others successfully turned attention to the upstream roots of the plastics problem: overproduction and toxic plastic chemicals that make people sick. IPEN’s science, policy advocacy, and expert voices from around the world have exposed the plastics, fossil fuels, and petrochemical complex as a major driver of the triple planetary crises: climate change, biodiversity loss, and plastic and chemical pollution. 

With more than 25 years of experience in negotiating multilateral environmental agreements, IPEN calls for a meaningful Plastics Treaty and works for national actions toward a future without toxic plastics.