“We are committed to eliminating plastic pollution, with the ambition of reducing any additional plastic pollution to zero by 2040,” said environment and climate ministers from the G7 industrialized nations.
Germany, France, Canada, Britain and the European Union made a similar pledge last year.
But this is the first time that the members of the Group of Seven, which also includes Japan, the United States and Italy, have set a date of 2040.
At a press conference after the two-day talks in the Japanese city of Sapporo, German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke hailed the bloc’s new pledge on plastic pollution, calling it an “ambitious goal”.
The statement said the phase-out would be achieved by “promoting sustainable plastic consumption and production, promoting its inclusion in the economy and environmentally sound management of waste.”
Plastic waste in the world has doubled in 20 years.
Only nine percent of this waste has been successfully recycled, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The United Nations says the amount of plastic entering the oceans will triple by 2040.
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