Three in four people worldwide want single-use plastics to be banned as soon as possible, a poll released yesterday showed as UN members prepare to begin talks on a global plastic pollution treaty.
The percentage of people calling for bans is up from 71 percent since 2019, while those who said they favored products with less plastic packaging rose to 82 percent from 75 percent, the IPSOS poll of more than 20,000 people across 28 countries showed.
Environmentalists say that the results send a clear message to governments meeting in Nairobi next week to press ahead with a treaty to tackle plastic waste.
Photo: Reuters
“People worldwide have made their views clear,” WWF International director-general Marco Lambertini said. “The onus and opportunity are now on governments to adopt a global plastics treaty ... so we can eliminate plastic pollution.”
Nearly 90 percent of those surveyed said they supported a treaty, but it remains to be seen whether any such deal will focus on waste collection and recycling or take more radical measures such as curbing production and use of throwaway plastics.
Reuters last week reported that big oil and chemical industry groups were devising strategies to persuade conference participants to reject any deal that would limit production of plastic, which is made from oil and gas and a key source of their revenue.
If the UN cannot agree on a deal to put the brakes on plastic pollution, there will be widespread ecological damage over the next few decades, putting some marine species at risk of extinction and destroying sensitive ecosystems such as coral reefs and mangroves, a WWF study released this month said.
It is likely to take at least two years to finalize any treaty.
Whatever is agreed at the Nairobi conference from Monday to Wednesday next week would determine key elements of any deal.
The biggest support for single-use plastic bans in the poll came from the likes of Colombia, Mexico and India, developing countries at the sharp end of a waste crisis.
The IPSOS poll also showed that 85 percent of respondents globally want manufacturers and retailers to be held responsible for reducing, reusing and recycling plastic packaging, up from 80 percent previously.
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