Plastic Soup Foundation
  • The issue
      • Plastic Soup
      • What is plastic?
      • Plastic in the environment
      • Harm to animals
      • Health effects
      • Regulations
      • Bogus solutions
      • Responsibilities
      • Sustainable development
      • Facts & Figures
  • What we do
      • Health
      • Microplastics
      • Education
      • Plastic Waste
  • How you can help
      • Consumer
      • Business
      • Community
      • Kids
      • At school
  • Solutions
  • News
  • Donate
  • NL
  • EN
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
You are here: News Sustainable Development Goals and fighting the plastic soup

Sustainable Development Goals and fighting the plastic soup

Maria Westerbos’ opinion article on Impakter

Amsterdam/Washington D.C. – When the United Nations adopted the Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, the fight against plastic pollution was not recognized as a separate SDG. Following “The Honolulu Commitment” of 2011 it was presented as a marine debris problem. Plastic pollution was not yet conceived to compromise freshwater environments, land or human health. SDG target 14.1, with its focus on on reduction of marine pollution of all kinds, was therefore often referred to when combatting international plastic pollution. In the meantime, however, our insights have increased significantly.

Framing the issue

The Plastic Soup Foundation, together with an international coalition of NGOs united in the Break Free From Plastic movement, argue that it is not SDG 14 that has to be taken as the starting point for strengthening international governance structures to fight plastic pollution. The world should instead (also) concentrate on SDG 3 (Health and well-being) and SDG 12 (Sustainable consumption and production) in order to prioritize real solutions that address the problem at its core.

This changed focus implies that the world has to address the pollution caused by plastic throughout its entire lifecycle, and that the initial focus should be to realize an absolute reduction in plastic production in order to avoid and prevent plastic from entering the environment and imposing health risks. The world must refute the solutions of the multinational firms that are promising 100% recyclable packaging, using recycled material to replace new plastic and to reduce the amount of plastic per product. These solutions, which are often followed by national governments when determining policy, simply allow business as usual, in other words: an unlimited growth of plastic, especially single use plastic packaging.

Not SDG 14, but SDG 3 and 12

Unfortunately, the fight against plastic pollution is not a separate SDG. However, the SDGs do offer a framework for action when putting emphasis on SDG 14 as well as SDG 3 and SDG 12. A new global convention should be drafted to prevent both growth in plastics pollution and harm to human health at all phases of the production cycle.

The full article by Maria Westerbos, director of Plastic Soup Foundation, published by Impakter SDG series on March 27, 2019.

Search

Categories

  • Plastic soupermarket (2)
  • Trash hunters (49)
  • What is plastic soup? (12)
  • What to do with plastic waste? (12)
  • Types of plastic (3)
  • Press releases (16)
  • Beat the microbead (18)
  • Solutions (11)
  • Don't use balloons (3)
  • Gezondheidseffecten (57)
  • Animal cruelty (13)
  • sponsoring campaign (1)
  • Microbeads (27)
  • Sponsor actions (3)
  • Ocean Clean Wash (12)
  • About us (1)
  • Plastic Urban Mining (4)
  • Blogs (16)
  • My little plastic footprint (5)
  • Plastic Soup Awards (3)
  • Synthetic fibers (19)
  • Political plume (3)
  • actions frontpage (1)
  • nurdles (5)
  • Pressreleases (2)
  • Microplastics in cosmetics (2)
  • Junior (1)
  • No category (1)
  • News (540)
  • What can you do? (13)
  • Health Files (39)
  • Clean rivers (24)

Subscribe to our newsletter

and stay informed about our activities!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Donate now and contribute

I'll donate € 5I'll donate € 10I'll donate € 15Other amount

More news

Glitter = Litter 

Glitter seems fun and harmless, but these microplastics will remain in the environment forever.

Read more

Beat the Microbead. A provisional review of our campaign

After a decade of battle and debate, a European ban on intentionally added microplastics is forthcoming. A reflection on our campaign.

Read more

PLASTIC HEALTH SYMPOSIUM 2023 

We eat, drink and breathe microplastics, nanoplastics and their additives and are thus exposed to the risks of these materials on a daily basis. Let’s make a wave!

Read more

Is there a relationship between dramatic insect mortality and microplastics? 

Insect numbers are dramatically decreasing. Yet, microplastic pollution is rarely mentioned as a possible cause.

Read more

About us

  • Frontrunners
  • Mission & Vision
  • Working with Us
  • Annual Reports
  • Inquiries Press
  • Newsletter

Our approach

  • Business Community
  • Funds & Partners
  • Ambassadors
  • Plastic Soup Awards
  • Plastic Soup Atlas
  • Facts & Figures
DONATE
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • LinkedIn

  • YouTube

  • Contact

 
© Copyright - Plastic Soup Foundation
  • Contact
  • Privacy policy
  • GDPR Consent Settings
Microplastic fibers found in amphipods in deepest point of the oceanFirst copy of ‘Plastic Soup: An Atlas of Ocean Pollution’ presented...
Scroll to top

GDPR settings

This website uses some cookies which are placed on your device. Your web browser stores these cookies when you visit our Website: www.plasticsoupfoundation.org. These cookies will be retrieved when you visit or use our Website again. This allows us to recognise you as a previous visitor/user.

x
Settings

Your privacy and this website...

This website uses some cookies which are placed on your device. Your web browser stores these cookies when you visit our Website: www.plasticsoupfoundation.org. These cookies will be retrieved when you visit or use our Website again. This allows us to recognise you as a previous visitor/user.

Functional technology enables a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in. No personalised information is collected.

See details

This consent is used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.

See details

This consent helps website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting.

See details
Forget my settings Settings have been forgotten