How to stop plastic pollution at source.

Byline: Ellen MacArthur

The problem with plastic starts long before it reaches our oceans, rivers and beaches. Plastic waste and pollution are symptoms of a broken system in which we design products without considering what happens to them after they are used. As a result, every minute the equivalent of one truckload of plastic finds its way into the ocean.

People around the world are coming together to demand change. Many are altering how they shop, eat and live day to day. Millions of dollars are being invested in cleaning up plastic from our oceans and beaches. However, all this vital work will be in vain if ever more plastic continues to escape into our environment, be landfilled or burned. Equally, better recycling alone will not solve the issue: we cannot simply recycle or beach-clean our way out of the plastic pollution crisis. We must move upstream and tackle the flood at its source.

If we want to continue enjoying the benefits that plastic can bring without compromising the environment and incurring substantial economic losses, we need to align the entire plastics system around a common vision:

- Eliminate the plastic we do not need: the throwaway straws, cutlery, and cups; the unnecessary packaging; and the items that can be replaced with better alternatives.

- Innovate so all the plastic we do need is designed to be safely reused, recycled or composted.

- Circulate everything we use, making sure the plastic we produce stays in the economy and never becomes waste or pollution.

This is why on 29 October, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration with UN Environment, launched the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. More than 250 signatories, from producers, brands and retailers to investors, recyclers, governments and NGOs have rallied behind it. The commitment is built around the principles of a circular economy - a completely different approach to economic development where waste and pollution are designed out, products and materials are kept in use and natural systems are regenerated.

Central to the commitment is the 'eliminate, innovate, circulate' approach to keep plastic in the economy and out of the environment. By achieving agreement between businesses and policy-makers on tangible, time-bound commitments, it constitutes an unprecedented level of collaboration in the challenge of addressing global plastic pollution. It provides a common vision and charts a course for all stakeholders to follow.

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