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Plastic post-Nairobi needs IUPAC involvement
Summary
This commentary calls on the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) to play a stronger role in the global treaty negotiations on plastic pollution following the 2022 Nairobi agreement. The author argues that scientific expertise is needed to ensure that proposed solutions to plastic pollution are technically sound and effective.
Abstract Soon after plastic became an important commercial product, plastic pollution became a major concern. Despite political focus and implementation of measures to stop the development, litter from plastic products continued to grow and reached an alarming level already some years ago. In many countries the plastic bag became the symbol for plastic garbage, and in Norway that proved to be a very appropriate pick when a sick goose-beaked whale stranded and appeared to have 30 plastic bags and other pieces of plastic in its stomach (Figure 1) [2, 3]. This incident engaged the public in many countries, which quickly organized dugnads to collect plastic rubbish from everywhere—parks, forests and coastlines.
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