Model shows many paths to cutting plastic pollution

Enacting a combination of four policies could reduce mismanaged plastic waste by 91% and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by about 37% by 2050, according to a model created by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Santa Barbara ( Science 2024, DOI: 10.1126/science.adr3837 ) . If world leaders leave global plastic use and waste policies as is, annual plastics-related GHG emissions will swell from the current level of about 2.75 billion metric tons to 3.35 billion metric tons of CO 2 equivalent by 2050, according to the model. The amount of mismanaged plastic waste—waste that doesn’t end up in a landfill, get burned in a regulated incinerator, or get recycled—will almost double, to around 121 million metric tons per year. The researchers created this machine learning model in response to ongoing negotiation of the United Nations Environment Programme treaty to end plastic pollution. Policymakers, scientists,