EDITORIAL: SA’s plastic gamble

The collapse of UN talks on a global treaty to curb plastic pollution is a major setback for efforts to tackle a pernicious problem.

After three years of wrangling, talks broke down last week over disagreements about capping production and tackling harmful chemicals in plastics. The resistance came largely from petrochemical producing countries pivoting to plastics as the renewable energy market takes off and demand for fossil fuels falls.

It’s not clear when and how negotiations will resume, and in the meantime, the pollution issues only get worse. Since the 1950s, 9.2-billion tonnes of plastic have been produced, of which 7- billion tonnes have become waste, according to the UN. An exponential growth in demand for plastics means the world now produces about 430-million tonnes of the stuff each year, and if nothing is done, that figure will triple by 2060.

Since two-thirds of plastic is made into short-lived products that end up as waste, it’s not hard to see why it is clogging the ocean, choking wildlife and increasingly ending up in our bodies.

There is growing concern about the health effects of micro and nano plastics, which have been detected in blood, breast milk, sperm and even bone marrow. These tiny pieces of plastic are shed by everyday items such as food packaging and clothes when they are rubbed, washed, heated or exposed to sunlight.

A review published in the Lancet ahead of the UN talks described plastics as a “grave, growing and under-recognised danger” that affects us from cradle to grave, and costs the world at least $1.5-trillion a year in health-related damages.

SA’s green lobby is pushing for controls on plastic production, arguing that pollution is too big a problem to handle with recycling and the only way out is to tackle it at source. Limiting production will not only curb waste, but also drive up the value of discarded plastic and make recycling a more attractive proposition, they say.

A bigger and more profitable recycling industry may help offset job losses in production, and provide a better income stream for SA’s waste pickers. They also want a treaty that will phase out harmful plastics, improve product design so plastic items are easier to recycle, and provide financial support for poorer countries to implement its measures.

The challenge for regulators and governments alike is how to balance these benefits against the harm plastics do to the environment and our own health.

The government’s position is somewhat more nuanced. While it recognises the dangers of plastic pollution, it sees production caps as blunt instruments that carry grave risks for a nation such as SA struggling with high unemployment and a fragile economy. It is quite right: limits on output are anathema to investors, and there are other ways to change business practices.

The tax on sugary drinks, for example, has prompted manufacturers to reformulate beverages so they contain less sugar. Thus, the department is pushing for market-driven solutions backed by incentives to get the plastics industry, and business more broadly, to do things differently.

And while its recent proposal for a national ban on microbeads might seem fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, it is an important step in the right direction. Far more significant will be how much progress the government can make in phasing out single-use plastics, which account for most of the plastic litter washing up on our beaches and scattered throughout informal settlements and townships.

Plastics go back more than 100 years, but truly took off after World War 2. They are now ubiquitous, and life without them is unimaginable. Plastics have made a host of consumer goods cheap and accessible, play a vital role in medicine, and help us store food safely. The challenge for regulators and governments alike is how to balance these benefits against the harm plastics do to the environment and our own health.

As the government resists calls to cap production and strives to protect jobs, it must be careful it does not mortgage our future for short-term economic gains.