As United Nations members negotiate a new treaty to end plastic pollution, they must balance top-down efforts to curb production with support for on-the-ground initiatives that remove and recycle existing waste. Solving the plastic crisis calls for behavioral change, which can be achieved only by engaging local communities.
PANAMA CITY – As the United Nations enters the final stretch of negotiations for a new treaty to end plastic pollution, governments must work to ensure that the agreement not only reduces plastic production, but also strengthens local initiatives to remove and recycle existing plastic waste.
Consider the Juan Díaz River, which runs through my hometown of Panama City. Tons of plastic – bottles and other detritus – bob in the river’s currents, owing to poor waste management. Faced with this problem, Marea Verde (“Green Tide”), a non-profit organization that I co-founded, has installed a trash-trapping water wheel – dubbed the “Wanda” device – that now collects much of this waste before it reaches the ocean.
Local initiatives like ours are necessary to achieve global climate goals. This is especially true for eliminating plastic pollution, which is largely driven by local consumption decisions. The new UN treaty, in my view, should thus balance top-down efforts to reduce plastic production and ban the use of toxic chemicals in these products with support for on-the-ground efforts to recycle, reuse, or transform in a sustainable way the billions of tons of plastic already clogging the world’s waterways and harming the environment. Otherwise, the ocean will contain more plastics than fish by 2050, and new diseases caused by microplastics – which have already been detected in human blood – could become commonplace.
So far, stakeholders are split on how best to proceed. During the latest round of treaty negotiations, held in Nairobi last November, the plastics industry and some oil- and petrochemical-exporting countries called for more emphasis on recycling and reuse, while environmental campaigners and other governments advocated curbs on production. To reach a consensus by late 2024, the two sides must be brought into alignment and agree on an integrated approach that links global goals to local action.
Working in government and nonprofits, I have experienced first-hand how a disconnect between international plans and on-the-ground realities can thwart progress and breed cynicism. That is why we at Marea Verde adapt ideas that have been successfully implemented elsewhere – from the United States to Nigeria and Australia – to our context and culture.
For example, our Wanda device is based on Clearwater Mills’ trash wheels, a clean-energy technology that debuted in the US but is customized for a tropical ecosystem. Over the past year, Wanda has collected more than 130 tons of trash from the Juan Díaz River – a more effective intervention than fishing plastics from the sea or beach cleanups. Replicating this model worldwide could dramatically reduce land-sourced debris, which accounts for 80% of ocean plastic pollution.
Don’t go back to school without Project Syndicate! For a limited time, we’re offering PS Digital subscriptions for just $50.
Access every new PS commentary, our suite of subscriber-exclusive content, and the full PS archive.
Subscribe Now
Fortunately, many other organizations are focusing on river cleanup to prevent new plastic waste from entering the ocean. Eight of these groups – including Marea Verde – are participating in the Clean Currents Coalition, a network of projects that are piloting innovative waste-removal technologies in river communities around the world. Coalition members can share knowledge and work collaboratively while also encouraging and facilitating effective on-the-ground action.
The plastic crisis is a result of human activities, and solving it calls for behavioral change, which can be accomplished only through initiatives that engage local communities. For example, Marea Verde organizes and empowers residents in areas without recycling facilities by going door to door to collect plastic waste. As a result, many people have become aware of their ability to improve their surroundings, leading them to participate in neighborhood cleanups, reclaim green spaces, and lobby for better waste management.
Moreover, the lack of local data in many developing countries, including Panama, can make it difficult to design climate policies that are fit for purpose. That is why Marea Verde is also building databases on the volume and types of plastic trash in Panama’s rivers, which will improve reporting, help urban planning, and demonstrate the scale of the crisis.
Efforts to counter plastic pollution must be equal to the size of the problem. To that end, the new UN treaty should include severe curbs on plastic production to choke off output and give clean-up efforts a fighting chance. But it must also support the local groups at the forefront of tackling the plastic problem. These groups’ innovative strategies, tools, and data-gathering practices can serve as a model for the global community. This is not an either/or decision: both international regulations and local action are needed. The latter is already underway and is making a difference, one community and one river at a time.
To have unlimited access to our content including in-depth commentaries, book reviews, exclusive interviews, PS OnPoint and PS The Big Picture, please subscribe
Increasingly severe water shortages represent a human-made crisis that can be resolved through human interventions. The situation demands new thinking about the economics of this critical resource and how to manage it through mission-oriented strategies that span all levels of governance.
call attention to a global problem that demands far more attention from policymakers at all levels.
Although Kamala Harris is largely aligned with Joe Biden on many global and strategic issues, her unique worldview promises a distinct form of leadership on the international stage. Not only would US foreign policy shift under a Harris administration; it could change in highly consequential ways.
considers how the Democratic presidential nominees' views compare to Joe Biden's.
PANAMA CITY – As the United Nations enters the final stretch of negotiations for a new treaty to end plastic pollution, governments must work to ensure that the agreement not only reduces plastic production, but also strengthens local initiatives to remove and recycle existing plastic waste.
Consider the Juan Díaz River, which runs through my hometown of Panama City. Tons of plastic – bottles and other detritus – bob in the river’s currents, owing to poor waste management. Faced with this problem, Marea Verde (“Green Tide”), a non-profit organization that I co-founded, has installed a trash-trapping water wheel – dubbed the “Wanda” device – that now collects much of this waste before it reaches the ocean.
Local initiatives like ours are necessary to achieve global climate goals. This is especially true for eliminating plastic pollution, which is largely driven by local consumption decisions. The new UN treaty, in my view, should thus balance top-down efforts to reduce plastic production and ban the use of toxic chemicals in these products with support for on-the-ground efforts to recycle, reuse, or transform in a sustainable way the billions of tons of plastic already clogging the world’s waterways and harming the environment. Otherwise, the ocean will contain more plastics than fish by 2050, and new diseases caused by microplastics – which have already been detected in human blood – could become commonplace.
So far, stakeholders are split on how best to proceed. During the latest round of treaty negotiations, held in Nairobi last November, the plastics industry and some oil- and petrochemical-exporting countries called for more emphasis on recycling and reuse, while environmental campaigners and other governments advocated curbs on production. To reach a consensus by late 2024, the two sides must be brought into alignment and agree on an integrated approach that links global goals to local action.
Working in government and nonprofits, I have experienced first-hand how a disconnect between international plans and on-the-ground realities can thwart progress and breed cynicism. That is why we at Marea Verde adapt ideas that have been successfully implemented elsewhere – from the United States to Nigeria and Australia – to our context and culture.
For example, our Wanda device is based on Clearwater Mills’ trash wheels, a clean-energy technology that debuted in the US but is customized for a tropical ecosystem. Over the past year, Wanda has collected more than 130 tons of trash from the Juan Díaz River – a more effective intervention than fishing plastics from the sea or beach cleanups. Replicating this model worldwide could dramatically reduce land-sourced debris, which accounts for 80% of ocean plastic pollution.
Don’t go back to school without Project Syndicate! For a limited time, we’re offering PS Digital subscriptions for just $50.
Access every new PS commentary, our suite of subscriber-exclusive content, and the full PS archive.
Subscribe Now
Fortunately, many other organizations are focusing on river cleanup to prevent new plastic waste from entering the ocean. Eight of these groups – including Marea Verde – are participating in the Clean Currents Coalition, a network of projects that are piloting innovative waste-removal technologies in river communities around the world. Coalition members can share knowledge and work collaboratively while also encouraging and facilitating effective on-the-ground action.
The plastic crisis is a result of human activities, and solving it calls for behavioral change, which can be accomplished only through initiatives that engage local communities. For example, Marea Verde organizes and empowers residents in areas without recycling facilities by going door to door to collect plastic waste. As a result, many people have become aware of their ability to improve their surroundings, leading them to participate in neighborhood cleanups, reclaim green spaces, and lobby for better waste management.
Moreover, the lack of local data in many developing countries, including Panama, can make it difficult to design climate policies that are fit for purpose. That is why Marea Verde is also building databases on the volume and types of plastic trash in Panama’s rivers, which will improve reporting, help urban planning, and demonstrate the scale of the crisis.
Efforts to counter plastic pollution must be equal to the size of the problem. To that end, the new UN treaty should include severe curbs on plastic production to choke off output and give clean-up efforts a fighting chance. But it must also support the local groups at the forefront of tackling the plastic problem. These groups’ innovative strategies, tools, and data-gathering practices can serve as a model for the global community. This is not an either/or decision: both international regulations and local action are needed. The latter is already underway and is making a difference, one community and one river at a time.