Australia commits to plastic-free Pacific

Australia renewed its commitment and support for the work to address waste and marine pollution in the Pacific by:

- Joining the New Plastic Economy Global Commitment by the end of 2022
- Investing $16 million to support the Pacific Regional Marine Litter Action Plan
- Providing support to strengthen chemical and waste management through the Cleaner Pacific 2025 Strategy
- Upgrading recycling infrastructure and boosting circular economy

Let's hope this commitments will be followed by clear implementation plans

Alternatives to plastics? This IISD article provides some useful insights on why mushroom plastics probably won't save us.

The myth of plastic recycling: A lot of useful information on plastic recycling here. Key points include that we cannot recycle our way out of the plastic crisis – because there is just too much plastic, and the demand for recycled plastic is not strong enough. We should choose recycled plastic, over virgin plastic; and we must commit to using less plastic and substitute where possible from plastics, to other, more sustainable products.

Watch here:

Some elemental moments in our lives seem to last forever.
Less romantically plastics is forever too...so it's time to get clever about managing it!

Pierce Brosnan, 69, and his 21-year-old a filmmaker/environmental activist son Paris star in a new video in partnership with the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions - encouraging steps to curb the global plastic waste crisis.

Read the article to find out more and watch the video!

Also, I am personally very interested in the role that very well-known people can play to address the climate, biodiversity and pollution crises, influencing the ideas of thousands around the globe.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you find it useful?

Hi everyone - I am working on agricultural plastics with FAO - plastic products used throughout crop, livestock, fishery and forestry value chains. Very pleased to join this group and thanks to Octavia for posting about the event that we organised at the BRS COP last week. Here's a link to the report that FAO published last December - https://doi.org/10.4060/cb7856en

Some useful information for SIDS on agricultural plastics at the recent FAO side event:

Plastic is now used in all aspects of agriculture, this includes: polymer-coated fertilizer, drip irrigation, irrigation pipes, plant support ties, pesticide containers, harvesting crates, nets for bales, film wrap for bales, covers for bunkers, ear tags, tree guards, tree labels, fishing nets, boat gear, traps for shellfish.
There are some promising alternatives including: biomass to replace plastic notching films, reusable and durable products such as glass and durable plastic covers for greenhouses, and biodegradable polymers.
The soon to be negotiated plastics treaty will be complex and doesn’t ensure the eradication of plastics in agriculture practices. The FAO Committee on Agriculture is considering a new voluntary code of conduct.
Plastic can influence the carbon and nutrient cycle due to changes in soil structure and microbial/fungal abundance; plastic in soil can be exported to other ecosystems by waterflow and coastal/marine environments; and mulch film is a large source of plastic in the soil, as is sewage sludge which accumulates large amounts of microplastics
Proposed solutions include: nature based solutions like: nature positive food production (regenerative, non-depleting, and non-destructive use of naturel sources).
Ghost gear is an issue for SIDS. That is fishing gear left in the water. Best practice management is: prevention (eg. limit on time gear can be left in the water, providing somewhere to dispose of old gear at port); mitigation (eg: lost gear reporting systems), and cure (clearing lost gear hotspots, retrieving gear while at sea)