“Moving towards a global plastics treaty”
How can we eliminate ‘waste’?��What legal tools could we design to prevent plastics waste and pollution and stimulate an economy where plastics are retained as stock?��How can we influence policy-makers to implement those legal tools?
Prof Rosalind Malcolm, Co-Director, Governing Plastics Network
Governing Plastics �Network
Governing Plastics Network blog that was especially busy discussing plastics pollution and climate during the Global Plastic Treaty’s negotiations.
Designing law to prevent the ecological harm caused by (plastics) waste
Key Points
Prevention not liability
BBC News 2 December 2019,
Photo credit: SMASS
An Economy where stocks of materials are retained and do not leak into the environment
Our laws are based on an industrial linear economy ‘take, make, throw away’
What we need are material and energy flows to be replaced by material stocks of assets where waste becomes an input
Think about the whole lifecycle of a product
How do we use the law to achieve this?
In a performance economy where prevention of harm is key …
Provide services rather than sell goods
Re-use materials and products
Re-manufacture products
Extend service life rather than intensifying the flow of materials
Require labour rather than energy or virgin materials
In a linear economy, current economic and business models generally focus on flows (GDP or added value) rather than prioritising the quality, value and use of stock
A performance economy needs a complete rethink of public policy
A socio-technocractic approach
Technology
Social Welfare
Employment Rights
Sustainability
The Lifecycle of Plastics (UNEP)��UNEP/PP/INC.1/11
The World
Moving towards a global plastics treaty?
The problem is to identify and evaluate those legal tools for the management of plastics and their waste which are most effective in stimulating an economy where plastics are retained as stocks rather than wasted
And then to implement and enforce them.
Our end-point?
Living well within a finite planet
Thank you
Prof Rosalind Malcolm
Co-Director, Governing Plastics Network
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