2023-05-26 04:01:15
New Greenpeace report highlights toxic dangers of virgin and recycled plastic and calls for end of virgin plastic production by 2040
Vienna/Paris (OTS) – Before the negotiations on the UN’s Global Plastics Agreement in Paris (May 29 to June 2), Greenpeace is calling for countries to effectively combat plastic pollution worldwide, primarily by taking action at the source. After all, recycling or switching to other materials such as paper would put additional strain on people and the environment. In addition, Greenpeace criticizes the intensive industry lobbying surrounding the negotiations and demands that industry lobbyists be excluded from the negotiations. Because the ambitions of government representatives must not be weakened by oil and gas companies.
“The world needs to start turning off the plastic tap now. Plastic is made from 99 percent oil and gas and is polluting and harmful. Government officials must take the dangerous effects of plastic pollution on the environment and people seriously and decide on a radical change of course. Mini-steps or voluntary measures are completely inadequate given the scale,” demands Lisa Panhuber, circular economy expert at Greenpeace in Austria, who is on site as an observer of the negotiations in Paris.
A new report from Greenpeace USA shows the pollution of new and recycled plastic. Despite the impact on our oceans, rivers and the people affected, global plastic production has steadily increased since the 1950s. The plastics industry wants to double production once more by 2040. According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), plastics contain more than 13,000 chemicals, of which more than 3,200 are known to be hazardous to health. Recycled plastics often contain even higher levels of chemicals, including toxic flame retardants, carcinogens, environmental pollutants, and numerous environmental hormones that can alter the body’s natural hormone levels.
“The plastic crisis is also a social crisis. Because the poorest sections of the population are exposed to disproportionately high health burdens from the plastic industry through petrochemical plants, landfills, polluted rivers and the incineration of illegally imported plastic. This leads, for example, to higher rates of cancer, asthma and impairs the hormone system. And it is precisely these people who are often particularly badly affected by the climate crisis, which is also fueled by plastic production,” says Panhuber. Among other things, Greenpeace demands that the states anchor binding global reduction targets and an end to the production of new plastic by 2040 in the plastic agreement and immediately ban particularly problematic and unnecessary types of plastic.
Link zum Greenpeace USA Report Forever Toxic – The Science on Health Threats from Plastic Recycling auf Englisch: Link to the Greenpeace letter to UNEP calling for restrictions on industry lobbying around the negotiations:
Fact sheet on the global plastic agreement including the Greenpeace demands: https://act.gp/3MTQu0a
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Questions & contact:
Lisa Panhuber
Greenpeace circular economy expert
Greenpeace in Central and Eastern Europe
Tel.: + 43 (0)664 6126712
E-Mail: lisa.panhuber@greenpeace.org
Réka Tercza
press secretary
Greenpeace in Austria
Tel.: + 43 (0)664 85 74 59 8
Email: reka.tercza@greenpeace.org
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