ecosoc background paper
TRANSCRIPT
United Nations Economic and Social Council
ECOSOC
Committee: United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
Topic: Discouraging the production and use of single-use plastics
Written by: Alfonso Castañeda, Ana Paola Rodriguez and Marcela Castañeda
I. Committee Background
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was founded in 1945 by the United
Nations Charter as one of the six main organs of the United Nations (UN). Its purpose is
to deal with economic, cultural, health and social issues as well as fundamental
freedoms and human rights. ECOSOC’s current president is Mona Juul. She is the
seventy-fifth president of this committee and was elected on July 25th, 2019. ECOSOC
is formed of 54 members, which are chosen by the General Assembly (GA) every three
years. The committee is responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields of
the UN system. It oversees 15 specialized agencies, eight functional commissions and
five regional commissions. Each July, ECOSOC hosts a four-week session where its
member states discuss current issues, analyze new solutions and review UN policies.
Moreover, every April, ECOSOC members meet with finance ministers of the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to discuss international development
(About Us, ECOSOC, 2020).
II. Topic Information A) History of the Topic
Single-use plastics or disposable plastics are plastics that are normally used
once before being thrown away (Single-Use Plastics, UNEP, 2018). The first synthetic
polymer was created in 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt. He was inspired by a New York
firm’s offer of US$10,000 for anyone who could make a replacement for ivory (The 100
Most Influential Inventors of All Time, 2010). Not all plastic items can be and are
recycled. Petroleum-based plastics are not biodegradable and usually go into landfills.
Even though plastic is not biodegradable it will eventually break down into many
microparticles. The process slowly releases toxic chemicals into the atmosphere that
pollutes the earth's soil and water (Plastic Free Challenge, 2019). Common single used
plastic products are plastic bottles, plastic bottle caps, plastic grocery bags, plastic lids,
food wrappers, straws, stirrers and containers (Single-Use Plastics, UNEP, 2018).
Around 40% of plastics that are consumed are single-use, being disposed of
after only one use (Plastic Waste, WWF, 2019). According to National Geographic,
scientific experiments have found that microplastics are increasingly impacting the
world's water sources. For instance, microplastics have been found in the digestive
tracts of fish, ducks and turtles. They are also polluting the air and the soil (Royte,
National Geographic, 2018). As a consequence, humans consume between 39,000 to
52,000 microplastic particles a year. Scientists still do not know the impact of long-term
microplastic consumption. In 2017, a study conducted at King's College in London
concluded that long-term ingestion of plastics could be toxic to the human body,
impacting the immune system and the digestive tract (Greatist, 2018).
Plastic releases at least 100 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
every year (Staley, Stanford Magazine, 2009). Carbon dioxide is one of the main
causes of climate change. It puts us at the greatest risk of irreversible damage to the
earth's ozone layer. The process of extracting and transporting fossil fuels, and then
manufacturing them, creates billions of greenhouse gases. Researchers estimate that
the production and incineration of plastics release more than 850 tonnes of
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. As climate change makes our earth hotter, the
plastics that have been thrown away break down into more ethylene and methane,
increasing the rate of climate change by 8%. These numbers are estimated to rise by
20% by 2050 (Plastic Waste, WWF, 2019). California became the first area of the United
States (US) to pass a law stopping the use of single-use plastic bags in large retail
stores in 2014 (NCSL, 2020). Other states in the US have also banned them along with
countries such as Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Tanzania and Uganda (Study.com,
2019).
B) Current Issues
China: For the last three decades, China has been responsible for making nearly half of
the world’s plastic waste. In fact, in 2010, China produced 60 million tonnes of plastic
waste (BBC News, 2020). In April 2018, the Chinese government announced a new
policy to ban the importation of 32 different types of solid waste, including plastic
waste. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment in China said plastic bags would be
banned in all of the country’s major cities by 2020, and in all other cities by 2022. By
the end of 2020, restaurants will be banned from using single-use straws, and by 2025,
towns and cities across China must reduce their consumption of single-use plastic items
in the restaurant industry by 30% (China, The Guardian, 2020).
Germany: In 1991, Germany became one of the first countries to introduce a
recycling system which enabled companies to pay a small fee to finance the
collection, sorting and recovery of packaging waste. The country now recycles 48.8
percent of all of its plastic waste. Due to this system, in 2017 the World Economic
Forum named the country the recycling world champion (Wecker, Deutsche Welle,
2018). In 2020, the German government announced that it was banning all plastic
bags in grocery and retail stores. Consumers are being encouraged to use reusable
cloth bags to further limit the use of excessive plastic waste (Phys.org, 2019).
Japan: According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Japan is
currently the world’s second-highest user of plastic packing per capita (Quartz, 2019).
Right now, Japan does not have a policy for banning single-use plastic, but the
Japanese government is working on regulations to ban in the future. This country is
planning to ban retailers from providing free plastic bags to customers, and charge
shoppers if they request one. Japanese consumers use about 30 billion plastic
shopping bags per year (McCurry, The Guardian, 2019). Furthermore, Japan plans to
announce an action plan to reduce the use of single-use plastic. Part of this action plan
is to install more collection boxes for plastic waste around the country, develop
biodegradable packaging materials and promote cleanup activities in rivers and
beaches (Denyer, The Washington Post, 2019).
United States: While some states are focusing on finding out effective recycling
programs, other states are focusing on imposing bans or fees to stop the waste of
single-use plastics. Currently, eight states, such as California, Connecticut, Delaware,
Hawaii, Maine, New York, Oregon and Vermont, have banned single-use plastics
(NCSL, 2020). The United States does not have a federal policy on single-use plastics.
In 2015, the US was the largest generator of plastic packaging waste on a per capita
basis. The cost of not only the environmental damage but also the social impacts of the
use of plastic in the US is $75 billion. Across the US, some local governments have
decided to take action, spending between US$3.2 and US$7.9 billion annually on
plastic litter cleanup and management (Gordon, Nicholas School of the Environment,
2019).
C) UN Action
In the summer of 2019, the United Nations headquarters in New York City
officially banned single-use plastic in its cafeteria. This means that metal cutlery is only
available and straws are now made of bamboo. Moreover, takeaway utensils are made
of compostable wood. This policy will also be implemented in other UN buildings, such
as in Geneva and Rome, throughout 2020 (Candela, PassBlue, 2019). In 2017, UNEP
launched the Clean Seas Campaign to inspire a global movement that tackles single-
use plastics and microbeads. Currently, the committee is focusing on raising awareness
about plastics in personal care products (Microplastics, UN News, 2019).
III. Essential Questions
1. What are single-use plastics?
2. What impact do single-use plastics have on the environment?
3. What alternatives can be used to replace single-use plastics?
4. Is your country a producer of single-use plastics?
5. Does your nation have a policy or ban in place on single-use plastics?
6. What is the United Nations doing to address this issue?
7. Which other organizations are working on banning the use of single-use plastics? Is
your country working with any of them? If so, which ones?
IV. Quorum
• Afghanistan
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• Egypt
• France
• Germany
• India
• Iran
• Israel
• Japan
• Kenya
• Malaysia
• Mexico
• Nigeria
• Pakistan
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia
• South Africa
• South Korea
• Syria
• Turkey
• United Arab Emirates
• United Kingdom
• United States
V. Resources
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