Scientists demand cap on new plastic production to end pollution crisis

‘If production just keeps growing and growing, we will be faced with a truly Sisyphean task,’ said one expert

‘Even if we recycled better and tried to manage the waste as much as we can, we would still release more than 17 million tons of plastic per year into nature,’ scientist says (AP)

Scientists are calling for the production of new plastics to be capped in a bid to cut pollution and tackle the climate crisis.

Governmental negotiations on the United Nations’ decision to adopt a global treaty to end plastic pollution are set to commence on 30 May – bringing about historic debates on the types of measures needed to pull the plug on the polluting of air, soils, rivers and oceans with plastic debris and microplastics.

In anticipation of the talks, an international group of scientists and experts have written a letter to the journal Science, in which they put forward an argument to tackle the issue from its source, by regulating, capping and eventually phasing out the production of new plastics.