Global Plastics Treaty Now!

From Africa’s parks to its rivers, plastic pollution is everywhere, eaten by our livestock, harming animals like turtles and seabirds, it’s in the air we breathe and food we eat. Plastic isn’t just destroying our natural world, It’s driving the planet further into the climate crisis, over 99% of plastic is made from dirty fossil fuels, and we keep making more.  We can change this, but we need to act now.

We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to call for a strong global plastics treaty that will keep oil and gas used to produce plastic in the ground and stop big polluters with their relentless plastic production. A strong plastics treaty will deliver a cleaner, safer planet for us and for future generations.

Last year, governments around the world finally agreed to come to the table to talk about a global, legally-binding plastics treaty. This treaty will decide how countries tackle the plastic crisis from the moment it’s produced, to the moment it ends up in our rivers, forests or toxic dump sites.

This treaty could put us on the path to a plastic-free future, but we only have a year to make sure our governments deliver for people across the world and at home in Africa.

Tell governments to champion a strong Global Plastics Treaty during upcoming negotiations so that we can finally turn off the tap and end the age of plastic.

• Limit the production of plastic with an immediate cap on virgin plastic production to 2017 levels. This should be followed by annual reductions in the production of plastic.
• Limit the use of plastic by focusing efforts on reuse and refill models instead of recycling. This should start with phasing out the most unnecessary applications and the most problematic polymers and countries must be legally-obligated to pursue reduction and reuse before any other measures
• Require full transparency on all plastics produced, used, imported and exported through a strong framework for reporting.
• Make producers responsible for the full environmental and social costs of plastic pollution during its entire lifecycle. Modulated fees should be used to disincentivize single-use and fund solutions. 
• Introduce a financial mechanism to ensure focused funding to meet the challenges of solving the plastic pollution crisis. The countries with the most resources and infrastructure should provide direct financial support for countries with less to transition to innovative zero-waste economies.
• Ensure Indigenous Peoples, frontline communities, waste pickers and affected workers have a voice in designing a just transition to a reuse economy.