Scientific challenges of plastic pollution treaty

The growing problem of environmental pollution by plastic waste is of increasing concern, as reflected in UNEA Resolution 5/14, on the need to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. The problem of marine pollution by plastic waste requires increased attention from the entire scientific community and should bring together not only environmentalists but also polymer scientists. The main characteristics of polymers which point out the main challenges that remain behind the scenes, including the problem of terms, the relationship between the danger and the size of plastic particles appearing during the degradation of plastic waste, and the microplastics problem itself should be discussed in details. The problem of reducing polymer use, developing multidisciplinary scientific strategies for polymer recycling, the proper chemical design of polymers and plastic goods, and responsible governmental regulations should be carefully analyzed in wide scientific community. Only the combined efforts of all experts, including environmental and polymer scientists, can solve the problem of plastic waste and microplastics. There is an urgent need for the establishment of an influential interdisciplinary scientific council to achieve this goal. This study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (state contract no. 075-15-2024-629, MegaGrant). Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/559726/document