Each year, the world produces around 400 million tonnes of plastic waste, much of it discarded after just a few minutes of use. Negotiators hope to reach the world's first treaty on plastic pollution this year, but across five very different countries, AFP found single-use plastic remains hugely popular as a cheap and convenient choice, illustrating the challenges ahead.
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00:00The world produces around 400 million tons of plastic waste every year,
00:07much of which is thrown away after just a few minutes of use.
00:11This year, negotiators hope to sign the world's first binding treaty on plastic pollution
00:15that environmentalists hope will reduce production.
00:18But across much of the globe, single-use plastic remains hugely popular
00:22as a cheap and convenient option.
00:25In Thailand's Bangkok, cakes like these used to be wrapped in banana leaves,
00:29but cleaning them and checking them for tears became time-consuming.
00:39This small shop uses at least 2 kilos of single-use plastic every day.
00:44Overall, Thailand produces 2 million tons of plastic waste a year.
00:4911% of that goes uncollected, and it's burned, disposed of on land,
00:53or leaks into rivers and the ocean.
00:59Plastic would also be hard to give up for this vendor on Rio de Janeiro's Ipanema beach.
01:03He pays $1 for 20 cups, where he serves iced mate to beachgoers for a little under $2.
01:18Bins along Rio's beaches receive about 130 tons of waste a day.
01:22But plastic is not separated.
01:24In fact, just 3% of Brazil's garbage is recycled annually.
01:30Plastic waste is also a major issue for Nigeria's economic capital, Lagos,
01:34regularly blocking sewers and evacuation routes.
01:37One significant source of pollution is water sachets.
01:40An estimated 60 million are discarded across Nigeria every day, according to the UN.
01:45Cheaper than water bottles, these sachets have become a necessity.
01:59Since they appeared in the 1990s, water sachets have become a major pollutant across much of Africa.
02:14Lagos banned single-use plastic in January 2024, but with little impact so far.
02:20In Europe, different countries have introduced laws to combat plastic pollution,
02:24like in France, where items like straws and plastic cutlery have largely disappeared.
02:28Single-use plastic bags have been banned in France since 2016.
02:32But reusable, slightly thicker plastic ones are still allowed, as are compostable ones.
02:39In this Paris market, these bags remain stubbornly common.
02:58An average vendor at this market will go through around 2,000 bags per week.
03:03Another sector where plastic remains omnipresent is the restaurant industry.
03:08In Dubai, this establishment usually receives more than 1,200 orders every day.
03:14In the desert metropolis of about 3.7 million,
03:17people rely heavily on home delivery for everything from petrol to coffee.
03:29Residents of the United Arab Emirates have one of the highest volumes of waste per capita in the world.
03:41In the last 20 years, plastic production has doubled globally, and at current rates could triple by 2060.
03:48Currently, more than 90% of plastic is not recycled, with much of it dumped in nature or buried in landfills.
03:55A recent study found that 56 companies are responsible for more than half of the world's plastic pollution.
04:01The fifth and final round of UN talks to agree on a world-first treaty on plastic pollution is set to take place in South Korea in November 2024.
04:09Some nations want the treaty to restrict how much plastic can be made,
04:13while others, particularly oil and gas-producing countries that provide raw materials to make plastic, want a focus on recycling.
04:25For more UN videos visit www.un.org