‘Global effort’ needed to tackle plastic pollution

An international initiative similar to that on mitigating climate change could reduce the environmental damage caused by plastic pollution, top science advisers have said.

Various international strategies exist for preventing and reducing plastic pollution, “but none has a level of commitment commensurate with the magnitude and rate of growth of the problem”, said a group of chief scientific advisers to the European Commission in a report published on 30 April.

The group called for a global treaty similar to the UN climate change accord. This should include efforts to foster international research collaboration, which in turn would “benefit greatly” from the creation of a platform for sharing results, it said.