Plastic Isn't Going Away on Its Own. Here's How to Fix the Problem | Opinion

"We are drilling for oil to produce plastic that we burn or bury a few months later. It is an economic and ecological absurdity."

These were the words of French President Emmanuel Macron to the negotiators from 175 countries who convened for the Global Plastic Treaty discussions this month. Left unchecked, plastic production is forecast to triple by 2060. More than 700 groups, including civil society, Indigenous peoples, workers and trade unions, children and youth, and women's organizations, pushed the world's governments to come together to stop this madness and address the plastic crisis. This grassroots effort laid the foundation for what will become the Global Plastics Treaty.

The Global Plastics Treaty is our chance to pivot from our plastic dependency and curtail one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions while protecting public health from the toxic effects of plastic and investing in just solutions that support the global reuse economy. But the fossil fuel industry and a minority of nations that profit from plastic production are doubling down to protect their profits and weaken any possible impact the treaty could have.

Plastic pollution isn't a question of litter (even though 7 billion ton of plastic are now waste) or a question of better waste management and recycling (only 9 percent of plastic is recycled globally). Plastic pollution is the entire system—from extraction to production, to use and disposal—that plunders the planet and endangers public health at every step in the process. It's a system the fossil fuel and consumer goods industry have fought to preserve and protect while they shift the burden for plastic pollution onto consumers and shirk responsibility for the crisis they have created.

The average American creates 487 pounds of plastic waste each year. But this isn't a problem that the average, or even eco-conscious, person can solve. This is a systemic problem that knows no borders. To solve it, we must scrutinize the entire plastic life cycle. At the negotiations, this holistic approach was shared by most participants who want to end the "economic and ecological absurdity" of the plastic crisis.

Ironically, it's the increasingly successful transition to eco-friendly alternatives in other sectors that has driven the fossil fuel industry to go all-in on plastic production. The industry is desperate. To secure a future for their products and protect their profit margins, they will drown us in plastic. But the price of their plastic profits is too high for us to pay: By 2050, greenhouse gas emissions from plastic will consume a staggering 15 percent to 32 percent of the Earth's remaining carbon budget.

Industry has already tried to distract and delay negotiations to protect their status quo. But they are up against 135 countries and a majority of civil society groups that are advocating for high-impact, legally binding measures rather than voluntary agreements to ensure this treaty is a strong vehicle for change.

The only way out of this ever-growing disaster is a shared global commitment to drastically reduce plastic production and invest in reuse economies—solutions the fossil fuel industry has resisted, and will continue to resist, at every turn. Recycling is the "solution" the industry and the countries that profit the most from plastic production have relied on for decades and continue to promote. While we can increase recycling rates, we cannot recycle our way out of the plastic problem.

A starting point for the reuse economy is to commit to a drastic reduction of single-use plastic, which makes up 36 percent of all plastic production. This is the plastic pollution you can hold in your hand, such as the 500 million straws, 684 million disposable coffee cups, and 2.3 billion plastic bags that are used every day.

We must also continue to center the frontline and fence line communities from the United States, as well as from the Global South, who have the highest stake in the ongoing negotiations and are disproportionately impacted by plastic pollution. This is especially true of the millions of workers around the world whose livelihoods currently depend on plastic and who play a vitally important role in the transition to a reuse economy.

A good portion of this round of negotiations was bogged down by procedural questions that will determine how ambitious, binding, and enforceable the final treaty will be. We will not allow the fossil fuel industry and their lobbyists to use these technical tactics to downgrade ambition and weaken the treaty before substantive policy discussions begin. We've come this far by bringing together a diverse coalition to advocate for change, and we will continue to demand meaningful participation and implementation at all levels under a human rights-based approach as we work toward a just, plastic-free future for all of us.

Nicky Davies is the executive director of the Plastic Solutions Fund.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.