Eunomia was commissioned by WWF Germany to produce a report on addressing plastic pollution by expanding reuse models to support the UN Plastics Treaty.

The report highlights the five most promising product groups for reuse and gives guidance on how reuse can effectively be integrated into the upcoming global plastic pollution treaty, unfolding its full potential in ending plastic pollution.

Download the report here.

The UN Plastics Treaty is focused on the plastic pollution across the lifecycle of plastic, arising from the over-use and mismanagement of plastic products. The treaty will contain a range of provisions to tackle these issues across the product life cycle.

From a global perspective, the report advocated for comprehensive rules, standards, and principles in the UN Treaty, considering developmental disparities among nations. It also detailed potential national legal frameworks and deliberated the integration of reuse requirements into the treaty.

This report makes the case for reuse measures leading to demand-side plastic production reduction as an important piece of the puzzle to phase-out plastic products with high pollution risk. It assesses groups of plastic products according to the likely environmental effectiveness of a switch to reuse systems, and the technical and social feasibility of such switches based on current knowledge.