Global Plastics Outlook
Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options
While plastics are extremely useful materials for modern society, plastics production and waste generation continue to increase with worsening environmental impacts despite international, national and local policy responses, as well as industry commitments. The urgent need to make the lifecycle of plastics more circular calls for an expansion of national policies and improved international co-operation to mitigate environmental impacts all along the value chain.
The first of two reports, this Outlook intends to inform and support policy efforts to combat plastic leakage. The report quantifies the current production, use, disposal and key environmental impacts throughout the entire plastics lifecycle and identifies opportunities for reducing the negative externalities. It also investigates how plastics use and waste have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic across sectors and regions. The Outlook identifies four key levers for bending the plastics curve: stronger support for recycled (secondary) plastics markets; policies to boost technological innovation in plastics; more ambitious domestic policy measures; and greater international co-operation.
Also available in: French
The policy landscape
Policy makers around the world are looking for effective instruments to tackle the environmental pressures from the production, consumption and end-of-life management of plastics. This chapter describes the policy approaches and key instruments available to address these issues. It takes stock of the current global policy landscape and lays out a policy roadmap to reduce the leakage of land-based macroplastics and to make the lifecycle of plastics more circular
Also available in: French
- Click to access:
-
Click to download PDF - 1.46MBPDF