With Earth Day 2024 and an increasing number of environmental campaigners calling for an end to plastics, is time finally up for the 20th century's miracle material" Rima Sabina Aouf finds out if we can ? and should ? abolish plastic.
Earth Day 2024 has the theme of "Planet vs Plastics", campaigning for "the end" of the material starting with a 60 per cent reduction in plastic production by 2040 and ultimately building to a "plastic-free future".
"Better to incinerate plastic than recycle it"
The proposal is indicative of a broader escalation in the rhetoric around plastic.
In the face of mounting evidence of dangers to the health of people and planet, and with lobbying efforts ramping up as United Nations member states work towards a draft of a global plastics treaty by the end of this year, more abolitionist voices are emerging, and even clashing with campaigners for circularity. Sian Sutherland, co-founder of advocacy group A Plastic Planet and alternative materials database PlasticFree, is among those who believe we should put an end to plastics ? recycling and all.
"It is better to incinerate the plastic ? safely ? than it is to perpetuate its toxic existence by recycling it," Sutherland told Dezeen.
Evidence about the harmful health and environmental impacts of plastic is growing. Photo by Elbert Lora via Unsplash. Top photo by Jas Min via Unsplash
"We need to take plastic out of our system wherever possible...