Commentary: Let’s not miss a crucial moment to end plastic pollution

As I prepare to travel to Busan, South Korea, where negotiators from around the world are gathering, I urge governments not to miss a historic opportunity to address one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time: plastic pollution.

INC-5, the final round of talks to secure a United Nations treaty based on legally binding global rules to tackle this crisis worldwide, calls for decisive action.

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Plastic pollution is everywhere. It’s floating in our rivers, littering our streets, invading our most precious wild spaces and even entering our bodies. It shouldn’t be there, and it doesn’t have to be. The current system for making and managing plastics is not working. And, so, the system must change.

A circular economy that eliminates waste and pollution, circulates products and materials and regenerates nature will benefit people, business and the natural world.

The upcoming treaty talks taking place from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1 are truly a once-in-a-generation opportunity and, if done ambitiously with enforceable rules that tackle the full plastics life cycle, will unlock billions of dollars of economic opportunities. This treaty is far from a distant idea—it is an urgent, real opportunity backed by business leaders worldwide who are calling for governments to come together and agree [on] globally harmonized regulations to chart a unified path forward.

The INC-5 negotiations mark a critical moment for the world to show that we can address a global crisis with a global solution creating economic opportunities for all. Now is the time for bold action. 

Marta Longhurst is the Global Plastics Treaty manager at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. She is based in England.