With plastic production set to increase from the current global production of 300 million tonnes per year, so too will the volume of plastic waste. Cities are already at the forefront of the battle against plastic use and waste, so what is your city doing to reduce its use of unnecessary and single use plastic and move towards sustainable products?
EUROCITIES’ new plastics declaration fosters a commitment by cities to curb plastic use and develop a strategy to significantly reduce plastic waste by 2021.
What can cities do?
City authorities play a key role in the collection and treatment of waste. However, plastic waste does not respect national borders and is a global problem that requires international solutions across several sectors and actors of the value chain, including local authorities. Cities can use their purchasing power to phase out single-use plastics and encourage the use of recycled plastics in products. Cities play a key role in better collection and treatment of plastic and many are improving waste collection and management practices. Cities are striving to increase public awareness of consumption patterns, mobilising clean-up initiatives and collaborating with the business sector on the development of alternative products.
Oslo
Oslo – this year’s European Green Capital – has already begun its journey to introduce guidelines for plastic-smart events and educate the city in becoming plastic-smart and aware. This includes working with municipal agencies, the private sector, relevant organisations and citizens to, for example, collect and map floating waste in the Oslo fjord by making use of port bins, divers and underwater drones. The city is also working with WWF Norway and their PlasticRelay and PlasticSmart Cities programme.
The city plans to phase-out all unnecessary and single use plastics used by the city’s municipal bodies by the end of this year – as part of a comprehensive plan to reduce plastic pollution.
Want to find out more about Oslo’s strategy to combat plastic? Then join us at the next EUROCITIES Environment Forum: ‘Tackling the problem of plastic waste in cities’ taking place in Oslo, Norway, 23-25 October 2019. Register here!
Make sure your city joins Oslo and the growing number of cities that have already committed to sign EUROCITIES plastic declaration and make the commitment to reduce the harmful impact of plastic waste.
Let’s redefine how plastic is used in Europe – take a look at our declaration here: Eurocities Plastic Declaration
