UN warns recycling alone not enough to solve plastic pollution

As plastic production surges globally, leading to increased pollution, the UN’s environment chief warned against relying solely on recycling and called for a fundamental reconsideration of plastic use, Almayadeen news Agency reports.

Inger Andersen, the executive director of the UN Environment Program, believes that different solutions should be taken into account, but “the status quo is just not an option,”.

Andersen emphasized the goal of minimizing the use of single-use plastics, aiming to “eliminate what’s frankly not necessary”.

She also stressed the need to rethink the design of many products, as well as reducing the overall supply of new raw polymer.

“We have to recycle as much as we can. But as we look at it now, plastic uses are increasing,” Andersen further noted in her statement.

Over the last two decades, plastic production has witnessed staggering growth, surging to a whopping 460 million tons annually, more than twice its previous levels, while only a mere nine percent of plastic gets recycled.