A Treaty To
End Plastic Pollution.
Forever.

Plastic waste – ranging from beverage bottles to food wrappers to cigarette filters – in our ocean kills or harms 162 species, including whales, sea turtles, and seabirds. Plastic and its chemical additives are linked to serious health problems, including reproductive harm, developmental delays in children, and damage to immune cells. The burden of plastic pollution affects everyone from New York to Nairobi – but the poorest countries and communities disproportionately feel it.

The world's nations are actively negotiating a new treaty that could once and for all end plastic pollution. In 2022, the UN Environment Assembly adopted a historic resolution to develop an international legally binding treaty on plastic pollution.

Under a “business as usual” future, the cumulative plastic pollution generated between 2010 and 2050 would be 3.43 billion metric tons.

A weak treaty would allow plastic emissions to continue accumulating in our bodies and environment. Clearly stated that would be business as usual. A strong treaty, high ambition, could give us and our planet a brighter future.

This would cover Manhattan with a pile 3.8 km high, or ten times the height of the Empire State Building.

Negotiators from UN member states are now working to agree on which policy options to include in the treaty, with ambitions to complete negotiations by the end of 2024.

Now let’s consider the amount of plastic pollution we would create in just one single year: 2050.

Choose your future

Now it is your turn to decide the future of our planet. Select a treaty policy scenario to view its impacts on the plastic pollution crisis if all waste were piled on Manhattan Island.

120.9 MMT

Under business as usual, the annual plastic pollution generated in 2050 would be 120.9 million metric tons.

80.1 MMT

Under a low ambition treaty, the annual plastic pollution generated in 2050 would be 80.1 million metric tons.

7.9 MMT

Under a high ambition treaty, the annual plastic pollution generated in 2050 would be 7.9 million metric tons.

3469.9 MMT

Under business as usual, the cumulative plastic pollution generated between 2011 and 2050 would be 3469.9 million metric tons.

2752.8 MMT

Under a low ambition treaty, the cumulative plastic pollution generated between 2011 and 2050 would be 2752.8 million metric tons.

1330.7 MMT

Under a high ambition treaty, the cumulative plastic pollution generated between 2011 and 2050 would be 1330.7 million metric tons.

World leaders must take steps to drastically limit the impact of plastics on the environment and human health

Choose Our Future

A Treaty To End Plastic Pollution. Forever.

Choose your future

Business as Usual

Low Ambition

High Ambition

Business as Usual

Low Ambition

High Ambition

A Treaty To
End Plastic Pollution.
Forever.