Global Plastics Treaty: Parliament projection throws down gauntlet to Therese Coffey

• Images and vidoe can be found here:https://media.greenpeace.org/collection/27MZIFJL09DC3

Plastics campaigners have beamed a message calling for a strong global plastics treaty onto the face of Parliament days before delegates gather for the next round of negotiations in Paris.

As government’s prepare to meet at next week’s talks, activists from Greenpeace UK projected a message challenging environment secretary Thérèse Coffey to act now to end the scourge of plastic pollution. The projection is one of a series expected in countries across the world ahead of the conference.

The UK is the second biggest producer of plastic waste per capita in the world after the USA. The crisis has only continued in the seven months since Coffey was appointed environment secretary. In that time an estimated 56 billion pieces of plastic packaging will have been thrown away by UK households, according to Big Plastic Count data [1].

The global plastics treaty offers a once in a generation opportunity to take real, effective action against the worsening plastics crisis. The UK claims to be a world leader in tackling plastic waste. To truly live that mantel campaigners are calling on the government to push for a global plastics treaty which:

• Drastically reduces plastic production and ends plastic pollution
• Ends single-use plastic, starting with the worst offenders, such as hard-to-recycle sachets
• Moves us towards a reuse system globally
• Ensures waste workers are supported in the switch to a reuse system

Anna Diski, plastics campaigner at Greenpeace UK said: 

The UK government talks a good game on how they’re leading the world in tackling the plastic crisis. There are few better chances to live those words than through the Global Plastics Treaty. But to do that, Thérèse Coffey has to actually back a position which rises to the challenge facing us globally and ends the age of plastic.  That’s why we’ve brought our message to the heart of power, projecting a challenge to the environment secretary somewhere she can’t ignore.