Global Plastic Pollution in Context
The current plastic pollution problems plaguing the world mainly include marine litter and microplastic pollution. The mass production and use of disposable plastic products make plastic pollution more and more serious.
Microplastics refer to plastic fragments less than 5 mm in diameter, which is the environmental attribution trend of plastics and the target pollutant of plastic prevention and treatment. The concept of "microplastics" was first introduced in 2004 by Thompson et al. of the University of Plymouth in the journal Science, and people gradually began to pay attention to the problem of microplastics in the ocean. Ordinary plastics are often difficult to degrade to the molecular level, but can break apart in the natural environment, producing plastic debris and even plastic particles. Some plastic products, such as cosmetics, use plastic microbeads as dispersants, and these plastic microbeads are also an important source of microplastics pollution in the water column. In addition the additives in plastic products, some of which are chemicals with toxic and harmful effects, are also released in the natural environment, eventually causing water and soil pollution. These flow into rivers and oceans and decompose into even smaller particles triggering marine microplastic pollution, which has a serious impact on the ecological environment of the ocean. When humans consume fish contaminated with microplastics, they will also accumulate in the human body and have harmful effects.
In recent years, there has been a growing global call for the development of a multilateral agreement to combat plastic pollution. The new plastic pollution agreement should build on the global framework of existing international multilateral environmental agreements and establish new mechanisms, i.e., allow existing international multilateral environmental agreements to contribute within their capacity, while filling the gaps of existing conventions through the development of new agreements to effectively eliminate plastic pollution, especially in the oceans, from a whole-life cycle perspective. 28 February to 2 March 2022 The second phase of the Fifth United Nations Environment Assembly made historic progress with the adoption of a resolution on Ending Plastic Pollution: Towards an International Legally Binding Instrument.
