As countries seek to secure a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution, a report outlining the path to do so has been released by the United Nations Environment Programme, detailing how plastic pollution can be addressed head-on to create a circular plastic economy.

Reuse, recycle, and reorient and diversify are the three market shifts the latest United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) has proposed to dramatically decrease plastic pollution.

Its report Turning off the Tap: How the world can end plastic pollution and create a circular economy was published on Tuesday, and comes ahead of a second round of negotiations on a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution.

"Our analysis shows that you need to, on the one hand, reduce the scale of the problem, reduce the amount of plastic that is unnecessary or can be avoided completely, creating three market shifts that allow reuse through refilling.

"The second market shift is looking at the recycling market. It's not only about good recycling management but about having more feedstock, more plastic that can be recycled.

"The third ... is creating alternatives that don't create a greater carbon footprint," Sheila Aggarwal-Khan, Unep's director of industry and economy, told Daily Maverick.

South Africa

South Africa produces about 2.4 million tonnes of plastic waste every year, with an average of 41kg of plastic waste per citizen, WWF South Africa has found. Of this waste, almost 60% is collected for recycling by the country's...