United Nations Economic and Social Council

ECOSOC

Committee: United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

Topic: Discouraging the production and use of single-use plastics

Written by: Alfonso Castañeda, Ana Paola Rodriguez and Marcela Castañeda

I. Committee Background

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was founded in 1945 by the United

Nations Charter as one of the six main organs of the United Nations (UN). Its purpose is

to deal with economic, cultural, health and social issues as well as fundamental

freedoms and human rights. ECOSOC’s current president is Mona Juul. She is the

seventy-fifth president of this committee and was elected on July 25th, 2019. ECOSOC

is formed of 54 members, which are chosen by the General Assembly (GA) every three

years. The committee is responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields of

the UN system. It oversees 15 specialized agencies, eight functional commissions and

five regional commissions. Each July, ECOSOC hosts a four-week session where its

member states discuss current issues, analyze new solutions and review UN policies.

Moreover, every April, ECOSOC members meet with finance ministers of the World

Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to discuss international development

(About Us, ECOSOC, 2020).

II. Topic Information  A) History of the Topic

Single-use plastics or disposable plastics are plastics that are normally used

once before being thrown away (Single-Use Plastics, UNEP, 2018). The first synthetic

polymer was created in 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt. He was inspired by a New York

firm’s offer of US$10,000 for anyone who could make a replacement for ivory (The 100

Most Influential Inventors of All Time, 2010). Not all plastic items can be and are

recycled. Petroleum-based plastics are not biodegradable and usually go into landfills.

Even though plastic is not biodegradable it will eventually break down into many

microparticles. The process slowly releases toxic chemicals into the atmosphere that

pollutes the earth's soil and water (Plastic Free Challenge, 2019). Common single used

plastic products are plastic bottles, plastic bottle caps, plastic grocery bags, plastic lids,

food wrappers, straws, stirrers and containers (Single-Use Plastics, UNEP, 2018).

Around 40% of plastics that are consumed are single-use, being disposed of

after only one use (Plastic Waste, WWF, 2019). According to National Geographic,

scientific experiments have found that microplastics are increasingly impacting the

world's water sources. For instance, microplastics have been found in the digestive

tracts of fish, ducks and turtles. They are also polluting the air and the soil (Royte,

National Geographic, 2018). As a consequence, humans consume between 39,000 to

52,000 microplastic particles a year. Scientists still do not know the impact of long-term

microplastic consumption. In 2017, a study conducted at King's College in London

concluded that long-term ingestion of plastics could be toxic to the human body,

impacting the immune system and the digestive tract (Greatist, 2018).  

Plastic releases at least 100 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere

every year (Staley, Stanford Magazine, 2009). Carbon dioxide is one of the main

causes of climate change. It puts us at the greatest risk of irreversible damage to the

earth's ozone layer. The process of extracting and transporting fossil fuels, and then

manufacturing them, creates billions of greenhouse gases. Researchers estimate that

the production and incineration of plastics release more than 850 tonnes of

greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. As climate change makes our earth hotter, the

plastics that have been thrown away break down into more ethylene and methane,

increasing the rate of climate change by 8%. These numbers are estimated to rise by

20% by 2050 (Plastic Waste, WWF, 2019). California became the first area of the United

States (US) to pass a law stopping the use of single-use plastic bags in large retail

stores in 2014 (NCSL, 2020). Other states in the US have also banned them along with

countries such as Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Tanzania and Uganda (Study.com,

2019).

B) Current Issues 

China: For the last three decades, China has been responsible for making nearly half of

the world’s plastic waste. In fact, in 2010, China produced 60 million tonnes of plastic

waste (BBC News, 2020). In April 2018, the Chinese government announced a new

policy to ban the importation of 32 different types of solid waste, including plastic

waste. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment in China said plastic bags would be

banned in all of the country’s major cities by 2020, and in all other cities by 2022. By

the end of 2020, restaurants will be banned from using single-use straws, and by 2025,

towns and cities across China must reduce their consumption of single-use plastic items

in the restaurant industry by 30% (China, The Guardian, 2020).

Germany: In 1991, Germany became one of the first countries to introduce a

recycling system which enabled companies to pay a small fee to finance the

collection, sorting and recovery of packaging waste. The country now recycles 48.8

percent of all of its plastic waste.  Due to this system, in 2017 the World Economic

Forum named the country the recycling world champion (Wecker, Deutsche Welle,

2018). In 2020, the German government announced that it was banning all plastic

bags in grocery and retail stores. Consumers are being encouraged to use reusable

cloth bags to further limit the use of excessive plastic waste (Phys.org, 2019).

Japan: According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Japan is

currently the world’s second-highest user of plastic packing per capita (Quartz, 2019).

Right now, Japan does not have a policy for banning single-use plastic, but the

Japanese government is working on regulations to ban in the future. This country is

planning to ban retailers from providing free plastic bags to customers, and charge

shoppers if they request one. Japanese consumers use about 30 billion plastic

shopping bags per year (McCurry, The Guardian, 2019). Furthermore, Japan plans to

announce an action plan to reduce the use of single-use plastic. Part of this action plan

is to install more collection boxes for plastic waste around the country, develop

biodegradable packaging materials and promote cleanup activities in rivers and

beaches (Denyer, The Washington Post, 2019).

United States: While some states are focusing on finding out effective recycling

programs, other states are focusing on imposing bans or fees to stop the waste of

single-use plastics. Currently, eight states, such as California, Connecticut, Delaware,

Hawaii, Maine, New York, Oregon and Vermont, have banned single-use plastics

(NCSL, 2020). The United States does not have a federal policy on single-use plastics.

In 2015, the US was the largest generator of plastic packaging waste on a per capita

basis. The cost of not only the environmental damage but also the social impacts of the

use of plastic in the US is $75 billion. Across the US, some local governments have

decided to take action, spending between US$3.2 and US$7.9 billion annually on

plastic litter cleanup and management (Gordon, Nicholas School of the Environment,

2019). 

C) UN Action

In the summer of 2019, the United Nations headquarters in New York City

officially banned single-use plastic in its cafeteria. This means that metal cutlery is only

available and straws are now made of bamboo. Moreover, takeaway utensils are made

of compostable wood. This policy will also be implemented in other UN buildings, such

as in Geneva and Rome, throughout 2020 (Candela, PassBlue, 2019). In 2017, UNEP

launched the Clean Seas Campaign to inspire a global movement that tackles single-

use plastics and microbeads. Currently, the committee is focusing on raising awareness

about plastics in personal care products (Microplastics, UN News, 2019). 

III. Essential Questions

1. What are single-use plastics? 

2. What impact do single-use plastics have on the environment?

3. What alternatives can be used to replace single-use plastics?

4. Is your country a producer of single-use plastics?

5. Does your nation have a policy or ban in place on single-use plastics?

6. What is the United Nations doing to address this issue?

7. Which other organizations are working on banning the use of single-use plastics? Is

your country working with any of them? If so, which ones?

IV.  Quorum

• Afghanistan

• Brazil

• Canada

• China

• Egypt

• France

• Germany

• India

• Iran

• Israel

• Japan

• Kenya

• Malaysia

• Mexico

• Nigeria

• Pakistan

• Russia

• Saudi Arabia

• South Africa

• South Korea

• Syria

• Turkey

• United Arab Emirates

• United Kingdom

• United States

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