Global plastics treaty: still no agreement, next formal round March 2027
Four years after the UN mandate, negotiations have collapsed twice over production caps and chemicals, and a new chair is trying to restart them.
Policy and law
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EU Single-Use Plastics Directive: bans, tethered caps and bottle targets
The EU’s 2019 directive banned ten single-use items, made tethered caps mandatory from 2024 and set 90% bottle collection by 2029.
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EU Packaging Regulation applies from August 2026: all packaging recyclable by 2030
The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) sets binding reuse targets, bans single-use plastic for small fresh produce and hotel miniatures from 2030, and…
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England’s plastic bag charge cut single-use bag sales at the main supermarkets by 98%
The main 7 supermarkets sold 126 million single-use bags in 2025/26, down from 7.6 billion in 2014, before the charge. All 94 reporting retailers…
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Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): the world used 460 million tonnes of plastic in 2019 and recycled 9%
The OECD’s Global Plastics Outlook is the most authoritative single dataset on the plastics economy, showing waste growing faster than recycling.
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Even the EU recycles only 41% of its plastic packaging
Eurostat data show EU plastic packaging recycling rose only slowly, from 38% in 2012 to 41% in 2022, despite the strictest rules in the…
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56 companies are responsible for more than half of branded plastic litter
Five years of brand audits across 84 countries show a few consumer-goods giants dominate plastic pollution, and pollution rises in step with production.
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Uncollected waste and open burning, not littering, drive plastic pollution
A Nature study finds 52 million tonnes of plastic entered the environment in 2020, most of it burned or dumped where rubbish collection does…
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Single-use plastic waste is still growing: 139 million tonnes in 2021
Minderoo’s Plastic Waste Makers Index names the polymer producers behind single-use plastic and shows it growing despite bans.
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UN Environment Programme (UNEP): plastic pollution could be cut 80% by 2040 with existing technology
The UN’s Turning off the Tap report shows reuse, recycling and material substitution could slash plastic pollution and save trillions.