Welcome to the Plastics Weekly, NEO’s regular news monitoring of the plastics industry.
This week’s highlights:
- The second to last round of United Nations talks on a legally binding global treaty to curb plastic pollution ended without a discussion of limits on plastic production. While negotiators celebrated signs of progress toward an agreement, advocates expressed dismay that meetings planned for the coming months will not address the creation of new plastic. The latest round of talks concluded in Ottawa on Tuesday. (Bloomberg)
- The G7 is expected to commit to reducing plastic production in order to tackle the global scourge of pollution, France’s ecological transition ministry said on Monday. “The G7 is committed to reducing the overall production of primary polymers in order to put an end to plastic pollution in 2040,” according to a note by the French delegation. The Group of Seven nations, which includes host Italy, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and US, would lay out “a series of concrete measures” to achieve the goal, it said, without specifying what these might be. (France 24)
- Scientists have developed a “self-digesting plastic” which could help reduce pollution. By incorporating spores of plastic-eating bacteria into polyurethane (a widely used plastic), researchers say they’ve developed a plastic that can self-destruct. The spores remain dormant during the useful lifetime of the plastic, but start to digest the product when exposed to nutrients in compost. The plastic could be incorporated into real-world use in the next few years. (BBC)