Plastic pollution in the ocean: How the Global Treaty Could Change Everything

0:00 Plastic pollution is a problem for all of us, not just the environment. Studies have shown that plastic pollution has affected human health in the cardiovascular system, in our tissues and other places that will cause us to eventually die or have harmful effects due to plastic pollution bringing down in our system. Plastic pollution is a fossil fuel product. It is creating using petroleum. It's a petroleum product and things need to change. Certain countries like Canada are banning specific single use plastics, but it's being attacked in court and there's an appeal decision waiting as we speak. Internationally, there is a plastic treaty. It was hoped to be finished in 2024, and it's been worked on for the last two to three years, but it still hasn't been completed.

0:45 Now, there are meetings as we speak in Geneva to be able to come to an agreement to put a plastic treaty in place. Will it be completed by the end of this meeting? I doubt it. I hope so, but I highly doubt it. But we're gonna talk about why it's being held up, what you can do about it, and all the information related to it on this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean Podcast. Let's start the show. Hey everybody. Welcome back to another exciting episode of the How to Protect the Ocean Podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, and this is the podcast where you find out what's happening with the ocean, how you can speak up for the ocean, what you can do to live for a better ocean by taking action. And just to let you know, I love how you're listening to this podcast. I love how if you've been here for a while and you continue to listen, thank you so much.

1:27 And if you're just new here, welcome. This is where I break down a lot of things that are happening around the world with plastic pollution, other ocean issues, and just share some good news, some bad news, and some just regular news of new species like I did last episode or a couple of episodes ago where there was a new species of manta rays that were just discovered and named. so fun stuff like that. sometimes not so fun stuff like in this case, but I break down what's being done about it and how it's going to affect you in the future. So if you wanna know more and you want to be more involved in ocean related stuff, join the undertow. It is a online community that I'm creating with two other co-founders, and we are creating this online app. It's coming out soon. We want you to join the waiting list. Just go to speak up for blue.com/join the undertow and we'll give you more information there.

2:10 Let's get started with the show. Look, the plastic treaty has been talked about for the last couple of years. I've had people on to talk about it from Oceana, from Monterey Bay Aquarium. We've talked about the hopes. We've talked about the challenges that we faced coming into the plastic treaty or during the different meetings in the plastic treaty. There were four meetings that I remember and that were done all over the world. And they had people like nations come in from all over the world. They had industry, they had nonprofit organizations, environmental NGOs and other government departments that were coming in to say, Hey, you know what? We want a plastic treaty. And then of course the industry's like, Hey, you know what? We don't really need a plastic treaty. We don't need to limit plastic. We need to build plastic. 'cause guess what?

2:51 30% of fossil fuel revenues come from creating plastic. Plastic is a petroleum product. I'm not sure if you knew that. That's something I didn't know up until a couple of years ago. But it's a petroleum product and the petroleum companies rely on one third of their business to create plastic. So there's a reason for plastics to be in, and that's a greedy reason. Now plastics also provide something that's very, you know, convenient for us. You can have plastic straws, you can have plastic utensils or plastic water bottles, all these different types of things that we use in our regular day. But then you go on and a lot of things are used in plastics. I'm looking around in my office here. I've got two monitors. I've got all these things that are encased in plastic, they're reusable plastic, but eventually when they get discarded, which they will at some point in time.

3:37 They're not gonna break down easy. Or when they do break down, it could end up in the ocean or they could end up in a landfill that's not really properly discarded and managed. And so that, here it comes a problem where we need better waste management systems, even in developed countries like Canada and the US and other places. And then we also need to be real about, are all these things recyclable? Like we're told, you know, they're told if you have plastic put in the recycling bin. But we've known over this podcast, we've been listening to this over the last 10 years. You know that the recycling is pretty much a sham other than a few items that are local to you that might be like, hey. in your region or your county, they might be able to, you know, recycle specific plastics, but for the most part, they don't get recycled because the regular old school coffee cups have this like wax on it that can't be separated.

4:22 So the actual material that is recyclable can't be recycled because of that wax on it that keeps the cup intact. Now you have a number of just like plastic cups that are single use that just get thrown around, whether it be on the pavement or in a garbage or in a recycling bin, but doesn't actually get recycled and ends up going to the landfill, breaks down, chemicals break down, gets into our ecosystem, gets into our environment, gets into our system. There have been studies that show that air molecules contain microplastics. You get sea salt that contains microplastic. It's pretty much everywhere. It's in our systems. You know, I have two girls who are in the teenage age group and you know, I can just imagine how much plastic they've had just in their environment over time.

5:04 And it's something that is very scary from a health perspective. You know, it's been scary for a lot of conservationists before and people who love the environment of what it's doing to our environment. But as we keep telling people, eventually it ends up harming us. And this has been harming us for a while, and the studies are really just showing it. And we've continued to allow for single use plastics and other plastics to be used in our systems because it's convenient, because we want to have that like rush of a lifestyle. We don't slow down enough. So if like we're thirsty, we're gonna go to a convenience store, we're gonna go to a store and we're gonna get something in a plastic cup or in a plastic bottle, and we're not gonna use our reusable bottles 'cause they're heavy and they're a pain in the butt to bring around and so forth. People think like that.

5:44 That's just, you know how people think whether we like it or not. Or you can call them lazy, we can call 'em all these names. People think like that and there's sometimes where you forget a water bottle or you forget something, but you're really thirsty. It's hot outside. I don't know if you guys have had a bad summer in terms of no rain and just pure heat. but here in Canada we haven't had as bad as a lot of places around the world that we're used to humidity, but we've had humidity almost all summer. Normally it's just for a few weeks or maybe the last bit of August, or just a part in August, maybe a little bit in July, but since the end of June, we've had humidity up the wazoo. and I'll tell you, like no rain, very, very little rain. We've had rain, but not much, not what's necessary to keep everything moving.

6:25 You know, like keep our, ecosystem doing well and keeping our plants watered and, just our regular ecosystem functioning going and we're gonna pay for it eventually. It's coming and we just don't know how it arrives, but we need some sort of management, not only from a national perspective in each of our countries, but also from an international perspective. That's why the plastic treaty has been such an important part of creating an international binding agreement. You know, whether you think those are right or not, or people abide by them or not, a binding agreement that allows countries to use as a legislative tool and a conservation tool to put in laws that will regulate and manage single use plastics and plastics in general.

7:06 As an example, I wanted to go over what Canada has done and I apologize for people who have listened to this before because people who have listened to this, I've talked about this since it was announced and since it was put in, in 2021. But essentially in 2021, the federal government in Canada designated plastics as toxic under the CEPA in 2021. So enabling regulatory measures like that ban on the certain single use plastics. And then you have in 2023 the federal court rules and designation unreasonable that all plastics are toxic and unconstitutional. So it was challenged by chemical companies and by fossil fuel companies, like large, large corporate companies that make and create plastics. They said, Hey, you know what?

7:47 We want to continue making this. We don't necessarily have a problem with the single use ban. We just don't want all plastics to be designated as toxic 'cause we don't believe that. We think that's just a general type of classification and it's not true. And until you prove that, and this is what I love about industries, like until you prove that it's bad for us and all plastics are bad for us, you can't say that, that it's regulated. And the reason why they put, you know, plastic is toxic in general it allows them to create these tools like the single use ban plastics. There's also a registry that's being created, a plastics registry that will follow the plastics through the supply chain of its creation and where it goes and how it's bought and everything, and how it's disposed of.

8:28 I assume there's gonna be some regulatory matter coming in the future when they analyze that registry to find out of who's responsible for disposing of these and creating a better product for these plastics and which plastics are worse and which plastics are not as bad, and all sorts of things. So I'm sure that's coming and that's what these companies are worried about. They don't really care about the single use plastics ban that Canada has, but they do care the fact that there's this overarching classification that plastics are toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. So, they challenged it. The federal court said, Hey, you know what, you can't just do that's overly broad and unconstitutional. And said the government failed to show that every such item poses a risk, which I almost feel like it should be reversed.

9:10 I'm always of the mindset that it should be reversed. If you have a company and you create a product, you should show that it's not harmful to humans. They should show it's not harmful to the environment. If it is, you need to change it. That's pretty much, it'll slow your process down, but come up with a better product and you really use innovation. Anyway, in summer of 2024, the appeal proceeded in around mid 2024 in June. On June 25th, 2024, the Federal Court of Appeal heard arguments both for and against the validity of the toxic classification. The federal government asserted that all plastics, or at least those that break down can cause harm, justifying the classification as necessary for comprehensive regulation. Environmental NGOs as well as health groups stepped in.

9:52 The Coalition of Health and environmental groups like the Davis Suzuki Foundation, Greenpeace Canada, as well as others intervene in support of the government's position saying that, the classification that all plastics toxic is necessary for comprehensive regulation. that's always good. And then the decision for the appeal is still pending. As of January 2025 and from what I've looked up, we have not been able to see what has come out. And if you do know if I missed it somehow, please let me know if there's been a decision or not. It is something that, you know, we're waiting on. But what's nice is that the court granted a stay so that the regulation on single use plastic ban can still go through. What I worry about is that all other regulations that have been created for this or we're in the process of being created has pretty much put a pause on it.

10:34 'cause government doesn't wanna waste any type of work or money on something that may or may not be able to go through. I think they should still be working on it personally but I can see a lot of people saying like, why are you doing this when at some point you're not gonna wanna do that or it might not be valid and you might not be able to do it. So, I think that's probably what the holdup of some of the other regulations that are coming out. But it's nice to have. It's nice that some of these countries like Canada are actually putting it through. I think Costa Rica also banned single use plastics and then some other countries as well. That's a huge feat. But as we speak now in August of 2025, if you're listening to this until August 14th, 2025. In Geneva, there is the Ink 5.2 negotiations underway.

11:17 So this is the plastic treaty. So the fifth round is split into two sessions due to the slow progress. So the current talks run until August 14th, but there's tension. There's about 200 industry lobbyists in the room. They are there to essentially slow down the process or essentially just get in its way, and start to put in certain caveats and exceptions that allow their companies that they represent to have these exceptions, and they can do pretty much whatever you want, but the guardian reports, industry delegates outnumber the scientists at Geneva talks and raising transparency concerns. So they're worried about what's been happening and how once private companies get involved that are not transparent and that have sort of a devious or nefarious sort of act when they go there, they want to stop this plastic treaty from going on.

12:04 Let's be honest. All these organizations, these corporations and stuff, they don't want, like the industry, they do not want this to happen. It's gonna impede on their progress for money. It's gonna impede on their progress for creating products for other people. The plastic treaty is gonna slow down their growth essentially, and that's what they want. But you know, it's pretty big. Now, small island nations in the EU are pushing for caps on the number of plastic products that can be made. Oil producing countries prefer waste management focus instead. And so instead of banning or putting caps or a quota on the amount of plastic products that can come out, oil producing countries prefer waste management focus. That's a worrisome because it's kind of like the climate change, you know, oil producing companies depending on who's in charge of the government want to use carbon capture, which hasn't really been proven to work efficiently, as they say.

12:52 And so they abandon all other ways. They're saying, no, we can actually just innovate our way out of it and we can create these carbon capture services, and then we can capture all the carbon. Well, the same thing here. Well, we can recycle and we can, you know, manage our waste better. But even in countries like Canada and the US and other countries. You know, we've known in the past that we've actually taken a lot of our recyclable material and we've shifted off to small island states. So they have to dispose of it. Now, we pay for them to dispose it, but then they don't really dispose of it. And when in a report came out saying 80% of the plastic pollution that's happening is happening in these small island states, people are like, well, why are these small island states doing this? You know, larger developed states saying, Hey, you know what? We're gonna just ship our stuff.

13:32 You guys can take care of it. We'll just pay you money. Outta sight outta mind. Well, that doesn't help. Right? That didn't help at all. It vilified these small island states when we didn't know what was happening. And now look what happens. We know that this whole recycling game is just garbage. It was allegedly created by the chemical industry, and fossil food industry to say, Hey, you know what, yeah, we're gonna create this stuff, but it's actually recyclable so you can reuse it over and over and over again. And we'll just create different products. We know that unless it has a market, it costs money to break it down, to create and somebody has to purchase the materials. there's not a market for a lot of this stuff and it's not sturdy enough for do it. For example, just allegedly, 'cause I don't know of this for sure, but water bottles that you have, like plastic water bottles can be used up to two times when it's taken down and rebuilt.

14:15 After that, it just doesn't have the ability to hold as a water bottle. So that's a problem. Let's look at some of the people who are speaking out. So we have the spotlight on small island stays pushing for bold cuts. So countries like Palau and Vanuatu argue for caps to protect fisheries and tourism economies 'cause once you know plastics get into the fish, it's not good. Professor Richard Thompson warns that without caps reuse systems and chemical controls, the treaty risks to be irrelevant. So without those controls in the treaty, without having a lot of regulations within there, we're having a lot of the ability for small island states as well as other countries to be able to put in these into place. The treaty's gonna be just a piece of paper and that's all it's gonna be. And we do not want that. It's like marine protected areas.

14:55 We don't want paper parks. Right. Now the health toll that happens. So you got BPA, you got phthalates, you got pfas which disrupt hormones. They impair fertility and then they raise cancer risks. All these things are caused due to plastics, and they're linked to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and endocrine impacts. the us $1.5 trillion in health damages to that 400,000 death tied to BPA. That's crazy. so the Leny study, calculated costs from reduced productivity healthcare and premature death. Now, a shocking note, microplastics detected in humans reproductive organs. So in August, 2025, a study confirmed particles in testicular tissue potentially affected fertility. So we're gonna have lower fertility because of this.

15:35 so, you know, you wonder if this treaty is actually going to come into play. At what point do we say we need to put this in? At what point do people stand up and say, this is an important part to us. The fact that it's affecting us and our children, microplastics have been found in breast milk and infant. That's how bad we are at the point. So when kids are born and they have formula, or they have breast milk right from the get go, they have microplastics components in them, and obviously that's not good. there's also equity concerns. So global south and development versus environmental justice. So low income nations fear caps could limit their economic growth if funding is not provided. So there's gonna have to be some type of funding.

16:18 And then of course, you know, India argues for consensus without stifling development. So, India's position measures must align with sustainable development goals. So they have to fit within other legislative bodies or with other international agreements. All of this stuff is related to this plastic treaty, right? There are different aspects in this, and I can't break it down into one episode. I'm already getting long in this episode. But it's something where if we have a system where we do not control our plastic pollution, we are going to have significant impacts on our health of our bodies, as well as our ecosystems, and we can't afford that. We are in a position right now in the world where things are really boiling and to a point where it's getting really bad.

17:04 We need to have some controls. We can't just let corporations and companies continue to take over and continue to drive. economy over environmental health. So we need to ensure that we are building a stronger, more resilient society by controlling the stuff that's, you know, can impede that and that is microplastics and plastic pollution. There are certain things that you can do to help. The first thing that I would do if you were watching this before August 14th, is go to your government representative and say, we want a plastic treaty. We want our country. So for me, it'd be Canada to sign on to the plastic treaty. And we wanted to make sure that we are protected from our health concerns and our environmental concerns from plastic pollution.

17:51 That'd be the first thing that I would like you to do. You could also follow, like Greenpeace Plastic Pollution Coalition, surf Rider Foundation that are running campaigns and volunteer on those campaigns or help share those campaigns on social media and so forth. Small actions that you can do is just look around and eliminate the single use plastics in your life. There are a lot of single-use plastics in your life. If you can eliminate where it fits within your lifestyle. You will have to change a little bit. You might have to change certain type of products that you use. You might have to change certain things that you do, but you can do those small changes 'cause they add up to large, large, you know, betterments of our world. And so that's huge. So just municipal bans on single-use plastics have cut plastic bag litter by 70%.

18:32 That's huge right. In certain municipalities, so that's good. And the big thing is, is like we all have a stake in this. In the plastic crisis. And so we should all act. This is not just, oh, let the environmental NGOs do it or let the governments handle it. This is all of us. This is all of us. You look at your families, you look at your kids, you look at your parents, you look at your neighbors and so forth, your community, and you can say, if we take this action. We are bettering our society, we are making our society more resilient towards plastic pollution because there'll be less plastic pollution. So that's where I want to end it today. I would love to hear, your suggestions. What we can do, let me know in the comments below. If you're listening to this on YouTube or hit me up with an email, go to speak up for blue.com/contact, fill it out.

19:17 It goes right to my email. Or you can hit me up on Instagram, DM me at how to protect the ocean. It's at how to protect the ocean. I wanna thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of the How to Protect the Ocean. I'm your host Andrew Lewin from the true nor strong and free, have a great day. We'll talk to you next time and happy conservation.