ISWA urges binding plastics pact as waste volumes climb

By Rebecca Stone

Global plastic use is projected to rise from 460 million tonnes in 2019 to 1.23 billion tonnes in 2060, faster than the OECD forecasts for total material use.

ISWA’s INC-5.2 position paper says waste systems cannot compensate for unlimited growth in virgin fossil-based plastics. It calls for a binding global agreement linking upstream prevention with downstream implementation.

ISWA does not advocate eliminating plastic. It values food protection, modern healthcare, transport weight reduction and affordable, accessible products; the challenge is retaining those benefits without pollution, resource depletion and climate damage.

ISWA states: “The waste sector can be the final barrier preventing plastic from becoming pollution, but it cannot be the only barrier.”

What is driving plastic and waste growth?

The OECD expects global material use to increase from 96 billion tonnes in 2020 to 145 billion tonnes in 2050. High-income countries use about six times more material per person than low-income countries.

Some of the fastest projected plastic growth will occur where collection, treatment and recycling systems remain underdeveloped, straining services that already lag demand.

World Bank estimates put global municipal waste at approximately 2.56 billion tonnes in 2022 and 3.86 billion tonnes in 2050. The largest relative increases are projected in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa.

Those flows will grow larger and more complex. Treatment capacity alone will not suffice if production and consumption rise without limits.

Why does plastic create climate risk?

Most plastics use fossil raw materials, and greenhouse gases arise during extraction, production, conversion, transport and waste treatment. The lifecycle generated an estimated 1.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2020.

Recycling cannot do everything alone. Without additional measures, lifecycle emissions could reach approximately 2.8 billion tonnes by 2040, about 5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Recycling remains essential but cannot indefinitely offset rising virgin production. ISWA also calls for less unnecessary consumption, longer product lifetimes and more secondary materials.

Where does plastic escape controlled systems?

Plastic in a controlled system can remain a resource and become managed waste; plastic that escapes becomes pollution. Leakage occurs during production, transport and consumption, and through littering, inadequate collection, open dumping and poor treatment.

Once plastic reaches streets, stormwater systems and rivers, it becomes mobile and crosses municipal and national boundaries into coastal waters and oceans. Portugal and other coastal countries face pollution from land and marine activity, though much of the solution lies on land. Universal collection and controlled treatment are essential infrastructure.

About 98 per cent of municipal waste in high-income countries enters managed treatment. In low-income countries, only around 28 per cent is collected; estimates put 72 per cent uncollected, 25 per cent collected but dumped and 3 per cent receiving other treatment.

Where basic collection is missing, advanced recycling technologies address only a small part of the problem.

What happens after plastic fragments?

Large plastic items become microplastics and nanoplastics as they fragment, moving through rivers, coastal waters, the open ocean and sediments. Plankton, shellfish and fish can ingest them, carrying particles and associated chemicals through aquatic food webs.

Human exposure occurs through food, drinking water and inhalation. Research has detected small plastic particles in human blood and organs, including the liver, placenta and brain, although measurement methods and interpretation remain under investigation.

Experimental studies report inflammation, oxidative stress and cellular effects. Scientific evidence remains insufficient to determine how much current exposure directly causes human disease, but ISWA says uncertainty does not justify inaction; recovery after fragmentation becomes extremely difficult.

Treatment can remove many particles from controlled flows such as wastewater. Captured material may enter sludge and other residual streams requiring sound management. No safe, cost-effective method for removing microplastics and nanoplastics from the open ocean at scale has been demonstrated, making source prevention and capture essential.

Who should carry the end-of-life cost?

Waste management organisations increasingly handle products never designed for reuse or recycling. Complex combinations of polymers, additives and other materials complicate sorting and treatment, while low-value and non-recyclable plastics often have no viable markets.

Plastics unsuitable for safe, viable recycling still require sound treatment and disposal under the waste hierarchy. Municipalities and taxpayers bear much of the collection, clean-up, treatment and disposal cost, including burdens created by private companies’ products.

Properly designed extended producer responsibility, or EPR, can correct that imbalance by covering all producers, all relevant plastic formats and full end-of-life management costs.

• Fees should reflect durability, reusability, recyclability and material choices; producers should pay more for difficult or costly products.
• EPR should include low-value and non-recyclable plastics, not finance only profitable recycling streams.
• Transparent producer registers, standardised reporting, traceability and enforcement should prevent free-riding and direct funds to waste management.
• Informal waste workers need fair livelihoods and safe working conditions.

What should a global agreement require?

ISWA National Members’ contributions through the Breaking the Plastic Pollution Cycle campaign connect product design, financing, viable markets and waste systems.

• Phase out problematic and unnecessary single-use plastics, intentionally added microplastics and chemicals of concern.
• Design products for durability, reuse and safe recycling; reduce polymer diversity where it obstructs treatment.
• Guarantee collection in every community; close or rehabilitate open dumpsites alongside accessible services and sound alternatives; end open burning.
• Provide finance, technical capacity and reliable data for systems suited to national and local conditions.

ISWA’s objective is less unnecessary and problematic plastic, less virgin fossil material, greater circularity for retained products, sustainable waste management and zero leakage: “Plastic should remain in the economy and stay out of nature.”

The decisive regulatory milestone is the INC-5.2 process: whether countries make lifecycle obligations, producer financing and collection duties binding rather than leave them to voluntary action.