(Baku, Azerbaijan; November 15, 2024): The UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) currently taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan advances with a high-level meeting on plastic pollution, where NDMA’s Executive Director Hon. Ansu V. S. Dulleh Sr. and EPA’S Executive Director Dr. Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo represented Liberia.

2023’s World Environment Day had its focus on the plastic pollution crisis. Humanity produces more than 430 million tones of plastic annually, two-thirds of which are short-lived products that soon become waste, filling lands and water bodies, often working their way into the human food chain.

Affordable, durable and flexible plastic pervades modern life – appearing in everything. But, it is thrown away on a massive scale – every year, more than 280 million tones of short-lived plastic products become waste. About 46 percent of plastic waste is landfilled, while 22 percent is mismanaged and becomes litter. Unlike other materials, plastic does not biodegrade. It can take up to 1000 years to brea down; so, when it is discarded, it builds up in the Environment until it becomes a crisis point – choking marine life, damaging soil and poisoning groundwater, which causes serious health impacts.

In 2022, UN Member States agreed on a resolution to end plastic pollution. An Inter-governmental Negotiating Committee was set up to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, and have it finalised by the end of 2024. The high-level meeting is critically considering talks focused on the life cycle of plastic- from extraction and production design to production and waste management, enabling opportunities to Figueroa out waste before it is created. Great Representation!!!