archiveJune 1, 2023

The $100bn per annum problem of plastic pollution shows no sign of abatement but proven policy approaches in the EU, Japan and Chile can serve as a starting point for countries seeking to curb plastic pollution as well as providing a baseline for the upcoming plastics treaty negotiations. Efforts to tackle plastic pollution are still highly uncoordinated, hampered by data gaps and focused on downstream solutions, including clean-ups which consume significant resources that would be better invested in proven policy solutions, waste management, and recycling infrastructure, finds a paper by...

The EU has doubled the number of firefighting resources across Europe in preparation for expected extreme summer heatwaves. The rescEU firefighting aircraft reserve includes 24 airplanes and 4 helicopters from 10 Member States. In addition, Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia will be sending almost 450 firefighters to be pre-positioned in France, Greece, and Portugal. Following the calls from EU Ministers and the European Parliament, in 2022 the Commission developed also a Wildfire Prevention Action Plan. This action plan aims to improve administrative capacity; improve knowledge; and increase...

A detailed plan to transform product packaging and significantly cut plastic production and pollution has been developed by researchers. The study comes as government representatives meet in Paris to negotiate a legally binding global plastics treaty with a mandate to end plastic pollution.  The research, published by the University of Portsmouth’s Global Plastics Policy Centre, commissioned by the Break Free From Plastic movement, consolidates 320 articles and papers, plus 55 new interviews with reuse experts from around the world, to suggest a universal definition of reuse systems and, for the first time, assess how all nations can move away...