Plastic rocks on an isolated island
The sombre message of stones made of plastic found on an uninhabited island far from the Brazilian coast.
G7 Youth calls for intensifying the international battle against the plastic soup
From 19 to 21 September, the environmental ministers from the G7 countries will come together in Halifax, Canada. They will meet to discuss a sustainable future. One of the subjects on the agenda is to further work on the Oceans Plastics Charter, adopted at the G7 top last June in Ottawa. Of the G7 countries, the USA and Japan have not signed this charter.
Any measures that the G7 discusses and implements have a great impact on the generations to come. The G7 is advised by Youth 7 (Y7), a delegation that represents the youth of the G7 member states. What are the Y7’s recommendations to the environmental ministers who will meet on the Oceans Plastics Charter?
The Y7’s recently published recommendations stress the need for the G7 to take legally binding measures to tackle the causes of the plastic soup crisis. It needs to be far more rigorous than the Oceans Plastics Charter. One example is that not the suggested 55% of all plastic packaging should be recycled in 2030, but 85% of all plastic should be recycled in 2025. The emphasis should be on reducing plastic production while alternative products must not depend on greater use of fossil fuels. The Oceans Plastics Charter currently places the emphasis on recycling and recovering. The Y7 however, believes that the G7 should explicitly reduce the waste stream and that we should be zero plastic waste in 2025.
The Y7’s statement also emphasises three other measures:
- Putting the onus of recycling on manufacturers so that manufacturers take their products back and are responsible for their recycling;
- A complete ban on single use plastics;
- A complete ban on microplastics in cosmetics and toiletries.
These too must be attained before 2025. Young people are the future, but they will only have a future if the seats of power in the most important world economies take the right decisions now.
Also read: The G7’s Ocean Plastics Charter
Photo/logo Julia Grandfield
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