With mounting evidences that plastic waste is rising and the accumulation of plastics in our natural environment is getting worse, the plastic pollution dilemma has recently taken centre stage in discussions of global policy. As a result, currently more attempts are being made to identify the international frameworks and initiatives that could aid in not just containing this crisis but also in repairing some of the damages.
Decades of use and a rise in single-use, disposable plastics are a catastrophe for the ecosystem on a grand scale. As a result of increased use, plastic manufacturing has exploded, reaching over 380 million tonnes annually and is expected to double within the next 20 years. Annually, oceans receive up to 12 million tonnes of plastic, and gyres, and so-called "islands of plastic" are growing. While the majority of plastics are predicted to endure for decades or even centuries after use, those that disintegrate become micro plastics, which are quickly ingested by fish and other marine life and enter the world's food supply. In fact, micro plastics have been discovered all around the world, even in tap water, human feces and the Swiss mountains. It is now abundantly clear that the problem of single-use plastics has caused a worldwide crisis, the scale of which is becoming clear now. In light of this, the President of the UN General Assembly has classified that the problem of plastic pollution as a top priority during the 73rd Session.
President Espinosa intends to encourage initiatives that can reduce plastic consumption, create awareness and assist efforts to discover global, regional, and local solutions by collaborating with Member States, UN agencies, civil society organizations and the commercial sector.
The United Nations (UN) has committed to reduce the amount of plastic that leaks into the environment through a number of projects that focus on micro plastics, marine litter and single-use plastic pollution. At the UN Conference in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were also introduced as a means of addressing the most pressing global issues of the day and ensuring a sustainable future. A number of SDGs, including SDG 3: Promoting Good Health and Well-Being, SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 13: Climate Action, Goal 14: Life Below Water, in particular, address the issue of plastics because it aims to conserve and sustainable use of marine resources for sustainable development and SDG 15: Life on Land, indirectly addresses the problem of plastic pollution. UN stated that to beat plastic pollution, we need to entirely rethink our approach in designing, producing and using plastic products. Recent years have seen a substantial increase in awareness of this problem, with a focus on the presence of tiny plastic particles, or micro plastics, in the marine environment. This has led to a significant amount of scientific study as well as public and media awareness of the dangers and presence of plastic in the marine ecosystem. However, vast majority of plastics are created, used and dumped on land. This suggests that a deeper knowledge of the processes causing the environmental release of plastic in the terrestrial environment is necessary to address the problem of global plastic contamination.
In this context, the Centre for Science & Technology of the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries (NAM S&T Centre), New Delhi, India, in partnership with the JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research (JSS AHER), Mysuru, Karnataka, India and the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), Amstelveen, the Netherlands will be organizing an International Workshop on 'Combating Plastic Pollution in Terrestrial Environment’ during March 14-15, 2023 with an aim to share experiences and best practices across nations and hope that today's exchanges on effective terrestrial plastic waste management would help us to learn from each other. The Workshop will be hosted and organized by JSS AHER at Mysuru, India.