This year’s Global Plastics Conference started on the 5 August in Geneva, with the stated aim of working “toward a legally binding international agreement to end plastic pollution”. Despite countries agreeing to develop a legally binding agreement in 2022, there has been little progress, while the scale of the plastic pollution continues to intensify.
Representatives from over 170 nations around the world will continue to discuss issues on: the production of plastics; bans on some of the most harmful chemicals; and what usually turns out to be the biggest issue in international negotiations – how will these measures be financed? Who will take the biggest financial responsibility to end plastic pollution forever?
Pervasive plastic pollution
Some 460 million tonnes of plastic are produced annually, with only around 9% being recycled. This leaves over 90% in use, in landfill sites dotted around the world, or polluting our oceans.
By 2060, plastic waste is projected to triple without intervention, leaving fewer parts of the Earth untouched by this pollution. Plastic pollution is pervasive and has been found in the most remote corners of the planet, from the Mariana Trench to Mount Everest.
Commentators are concerned that the numbers of lobbyists with fossil fuel ties present at this year’s conference, may seek to delay and undermine the necessary action on plastic production and waste. The Guardian reported this week, that: “The 234 lobbyists from the oil, petrochemical and plastics industries outnumber the combined delegations of all 27 EU member states.”
It is well known that many common plastics are derived from fossil fuels and therefore fossil fuel companies and chemical companies once again come under the spotlight for their practices.
Plastics, microplastics and human health
Polluting and contaminating the environment is one issue, but we are increasingly discovering that human health is being impacted by the levels of plastics, microplastics and nanoplastics that we are ingesting, digesting and inhaling. The Association of American Medical Colleges released a paper last year entitled ‘Microplastics are inside us all. What does that mean for our health?’ highlighting that microplastics – plastics ranging from one micrometre to 5mm – can be found in almost every part of the human body, from the heart, liver and kidneys, breast milk and testicles.
Surely, this level of pollution of the human body should be enough to shock us all into action. Yet despite three years of talks on how to manage our production and use of plastics, we are not responding.
The American journalist David Wallace-Wells, perhaps best known for writings on climate change, published a powerful piece on plastic pollution in humans in the New York Times, with the stark warning: “You are contaminated.” In this piece, he highlighted the need for desperate, drastic action saying, “Environmental contagion is important not because it is possible to keep everything at bay, but precisely because we cannot. The world is inside us, now. What are we going to do about it?” He echoes the threat to the unborn from plastic – changing the cradle to the grave idea to one of contamination from conception.
“And because plastic has been found in ovarian follicular fluid and testicular tissue and in a majority of sampled human sperm, it is already embedded in not just the yet to be born but also the yet to be conceived.”
Microplastics inside our bodies
A scientific paper released at the end of July 2025 in the Public Library of Science explored human exposure to PM10 microplastics, or particles with a diameter of 10 micrometres or less, and suggested that adults may be inhaling 68,000 microplastic particles every day from indoor air alone. These very small microplastics are small enough to find their way deep into human lungs, which may contribute to respiratory problems, disrupt endocrine function and increase risks for other health issues such as cardiovascular disease and cancers.
It appears that we have become the boiling frogs in the analogy. If we were to view this level of pollution new and afresh, that a synthetic product, which does not occur naturally, has polluted human bodies and the globe to this extent, then surely the necessary action would not be up for question. And yet, at this stage of the global plastics conference, confidence is not high that action will match the extent of the runaway plastic problem.
Is it too late to succeed against plastic pollution?
Words must be translated into action, so we need to be careful of well-polished narratives of ‘success’ by the end of this ongoing plastics conference. Whatever happens by the end of the talks on 14 August, no declaration will be enough by itself to suddenly solve the production and management of the use of plastics.
A complete mindset shift about how plastics are impacting our environments is needed to reorient the narrative about plastic production. The traditional ideas of ‘reduce, reuse, and recycle’ of the waste hierarchy, must first begin with ‘is the plastic needed in the first place?’ Prevention needs to be the priority. Plastic production cannot continue at current rates, otherwise, what sort of ancestors will we be?
Inger Andersen, the Executive Director, UNEP, stated: “The world has agreed to end plastic pollution. All actors must now do their part to deliver on this promise, starting right now.”
