Plastic pollution is causing more than $1.5 trillion in health-related economic damage each year and is linked to illness and death throughout the human lifespan, according to a new review published in 'The Lancet' on Sunday.
Describing the issue as a 'plastics crisis', the authors stress that it is preventable with the right action. They call for science-backed and cost-effective policies, including strict regulation, enforcement, and financial incentives- modelled on past successes in reducing air pollution and lead exposure.
The findings have been released just as global efforts to forge a legally binding plastics treaty resume in Geneva.
The review warns that plastic pollution is a growing and serious threat to both human and environmental health.
It notes that plastic production has surged from 2 million metric tons in 1950 to 475 million tons in 2022, and could reach 1.2 billion tons by 2060.
Around 8 billion tons of plastic waste has accumulated globally, with most of it still polluting ecosystems due to its resistance to degradation. Fewer than 10% of plastics are ever recycled.
The study comes as representatives from more than 170 countries gather for the second phase of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5.2), which runs from 5 to 14 August in Geneva. The talks are seen as a critical opportunity to push forward a global treaty aimed at curbing plastic pollution.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he thinks there is a chance of a peace being reached with Ukraine. He told the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia that he believed there was "a chance of finding a solution," to the conflict.
The Iranian Health Ministry said at least 18 people were killed and 142 others injured in U.S. airstrikes carried out between 30 August and 2 September.
U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Russia then Ukraine over the weekend, Russian state news agency TASS has reported, citing an unnamed source. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also said American envoys will visit the capitals of both countries.
Start your day informed with the AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top stories for the 3rd of September, covering the latest developments.
Thousands of residents of Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta took to the streets on Wednesday to protest the government’s handling of a migration crisis that followed a deadly border surge in July.
Vast flocks of storks passed through Türkiye and the Bosporus this week as part of their annual autumn migration from European breeding grounds toward Africa and the Middle East.
China's coastal areas and southern regions are preparing for days of intense precipitation, with tens of thousands of people evacuated as Typhoon Narra tracks inland and another storm churns toward the country's eastern seaboard.
A wildfire in Croatia driven by strong winds descended on the tourist town of Omis overnight, engulfing houses, forcing about 1,000 people to evacuate to safety and injuring dozens, fire brigade and health officials said on Friday.
Rhossi, a rare Kemp’s ridley sea turtle that washed up near death on a Welsh beach in 2023, has returned to Texas after more than two years of rehabilitation in the UK.
Glacier coverage in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul Basin has shrunk by 33.7 per cent over the past 70–90 years, according to an updated glacier inventory by Kyrgyzhydromet. The agency says the pace of glacier retreat has accelerated sharply in recent years.
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