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International researchers: Reduce plastic consumption before recycling

Reducing plastic consumption and creating products that last longer is more important than recycling if we are really going to tackle the problem of plastic pollution. This is what Associate Professor Kristian Syberg from Roskilde University writes together with a number of international researchers in the renowned scientific journal Science.
Kristian Syberg
Associate Professor Kristian Syberg has written a letter in the renowned scientific journal Science together with a number of international researchers. Photo: Camilla Hey/Roskilde University
By: Eva Lykke Jørgensen, RUC Communication & Press


Representatives from governments around the world and various stakeholders across society will meet in Ottawa, Canada, at the end of April for the fourth round of negotiations on a UN treaty to end plastic pollution.

In this context, a group of international researchers have written a letter to the renowned scientific journal Science, recommending a different focus for solutions than before, where much of the efforts had been about recycling.

Associate Professor Kristian Syberg from the Department of Science and Environment at Roskilde University is one of the authors:

"If we only focus on recycling, history has shown that this is not enough and we will not get the solutions we need to solve the problem of plastic pollution. We need to think about how to reduce our use of unnecessary plastic. We need to look at how we can make products that last longer and how we can recycle them. Only then should we look at recycling it," says Syberg.

He adds:

"Society needs to think more holistically and let the implementation of the circular economy be more inspired by what is called the waste

The top and most important levels in the waste hierarchy are in the order of:

1. Don't create more waste.
2. Make products that last longer and can be reused.
3. Implement material recycling, where the material is crushed and melted down into something new.

Bethanie Carney Almroth, a professor at the University of Gothenburg, points out:

"One of the most important solutions to plastic pollution is reduction, the very first step in the waste hierarchy. Such a focus can help drive innovative solutions to find safer and more sustainable uses of plastic materials and more circular systems for our society," she says.

The scientists behind the text are all part of the Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty, a global network of more than 300 scientific and technical experts from more than 50 countries who want to contribute to the treaty process by providing knowledge to decision-makers and other participants in the negotiations. The Coalition's goal is to achieve an effective global treaty that is rooted in and centered around robust evidence-based decision-making.