Plastic Pollution is also a Human Rights Issue

The impacts of plastic pollution extend far beyond environmental and health issues and affect fundamental human rights. This is the conclusion reached by the Wuppertal Institute's report "A Circular Plastics Economy and Human Rights". In it, Giacomo Sebis, researcher in the Circular Society Research Unit, and Charlotte Hullmann, researcher in the Transformative Industrial Policy Research Unit, compare the social and environmental consequences of linear plastic supply chains with the potential of circular supply chains.

Today's plastics supply chains are predominantly organised along linear lines: plastics are produced, used and then disposed of. Social risks arise at every stage of this process, affecting various stakeholders like workers, local communities or informal waste pickers. "Particularly vulnerable are formal and informal workers, directly affected local communities, children, women, minority groups including indigenous communities, and societies in the Global South," emphasises Giacomo Sebis. In particular, the rights to life, health, water, food and non-discrimination is at risk. In addition, the rights to decent work and workers’ rights as well as the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, are equally affected.

In the report, they point to circular plastic supply chains as a possible solution: these could help to reduce overall virgin plastic production and consumption, thereby reducing the burden of plastic waste and the associated health risks. Furthermore, new circular supply chains could create additional employment and income opportunities. At the same time, Sebis and Hullmann caution against making sweeping generalisations. According to the researchers, the positive effects of a circular economy depend heavily on the specific context and do not occur automatically. A transition to circular plastic supply chains must be carefully designed to avoid conflicting objectives. These include, for example, tensions between the goal of reducing plastic consumption and the benefits of plastics in areas such as healthcare or food systems. Moreover, they point out in the report that social risks previously associated with linear plastic supply chains may persist within a circular economy, particularly in the later stages of the product life cycle. Therefore, human rights could remain at risk even in circular supply chains.

The report "A Circular Plastics Economy and Human Rights" is available free of charge on the OHCHR website in the "Academia/Research community" section.