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United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development

A Plastic Planet

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    Description
    Description
    A Plastic Planet
    A Plastic Planet (APP) is a grassroots organisation with a single goal to turn off the plastic tap. APP is not focused on recycling, but an absolute reduction in the production and the use of plastic to package food and drink and drive the change towards responsible alternatives. APPs strategy includes raising consumer awareness and generating demand for responsible plastic-free packaging, a pro-business relationship to identify biodegradable alternatives, legislation to enact lasting policy change, and education for the next generation to demand plastic-free choice. APPs first public campaign is to secure a Plastic Free Aisle in supermarkets, inititally in the UK and mainland European countries. APP has four pillars of action.

    Action Pillar 1: Mass media to create demand
    Since launching in April 2017, APP has achieved extraordinary success with its media campaign for a plastic-free aisle with repeated appearances on primetime TV/ radio and coverage in major newspapers and social media. APPs messages are informed by specialists across key disciplines including health experts researching the impact of plastics on disease outcomes, marine biologists invested in reversing and limiting the damage to our ocean ecosystems and species survival, and manufacturing trailblazers calling for supermarkets to stop using plastic packaging. APP have demonstrated themselves to be skilled communicators and key opinion shapers and the BBC, ITV, the Times, the Telegraph, The Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Huffington Post and the New Statesman have all provided column space and invaluable airtime to the campaign. Two of APPs newest partners with global reach include SKYs Ocean Rescue and The Volvo Ocean Race.

    Action Pillar 2: Identifying new solutions with industry
    Pillar 2 focuses on finding faster solutions by working directly with the giant food retailers at the top of the production chain. Two outputs include (i) workshops bringing together the major supermarkets, suppliers, packaging firms and cutting-edge design companies to identify solutions and run scalable pilots to demonstrate feasibility (ii) the first, highly visible Plastic Free mark, to be designed and launched by APP to champion brands and retailers who are committed to non-plastic packaging alternatives and help consumers quickly identify plastic-free products.

    Action Pillar 3: Educating the next generation
    Engaging children as catalytic ambassadors to learn about the damage caused by plastic and to demand the reduction and ultimately the elimination of plastic to package foods and drinks is vital to ensure change endures over future generations. APP is working with existing education initiatives to introduce new interactive age-specific modules and piggy-back these onto channels with wide reach.

    Action Pillar 4: Legislating for change
    Like other successful global campaigns including the introduction of seat-belt laws, health warnings on cigarette packets and clean air programmes, enshrining reduced plastic production and its use for food and drink packaging into law is a key step to hold companies and governments accountable. Working with dedicated environmental lawyers and the government, APP will draft policy papers as the precursor to new laws enshrining and governing the use of single-use plastics for food and drink packaging.
    Partners
    Elected cross party government officials (Government); the public (civil society); key universities (scientific community), major supermarket chains (private sector);

    Goal 12

    Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

    Goal 12

    12.1

    Implement the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, all countries taking action, with developed countries taking the lead, taking into account the development and capabilities of developing countries

    12.1.1

    Number of countries developing, adopting or implementing policy instruments aimed at supporting the shift to sustainable consumption and production

    12.2

    By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources

    12.2.1

    Material footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP

    12.2.2

    Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP

    12.3

    By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses

    12.3.1

    (a) Food loss index and (b) food waste index

    12.4

    By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment

    12.4.1
    Number of parties to international multilateral environmental agreements on hazardous waste, and other chemicals that meet their commitments and obligations in transmitting information as required by each relevant agreement
    12.4.2

    (a) Hazardous waste generated per capita; and (b) proportion of hazardous waste treated, by type of treatment

    12.5

    By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse

    12.5.1

    National recycling rate, tons of material recycled

    12.6

    Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle

    12.6.1
    Number of companies publishing sustainability reports

    12.7

    Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities

    12.7.1

    Number of countries implementing sustainable public procurement policies and action plans

    12.8

    By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature

    12.8.1

    Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment

    12.a

    Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production

    12.a.1

    Installed renewable energy-generating capacity in developing and developed countries (in watts per capita)

    12.b

    Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products

    12.b.1

    Implementation of standard accounting tools to monitor the economic and environmental aspects of tourism sustainability

    12.c

    Rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market distortions, in accordance with national circumstances, including by restructuring taxation and phasing out those harmful subsidies, where they exist, to reflect their environmental impacts, taking fully into account the specific needs and conditions of developing countries and minimizing the possible adverse impacts on their development in a manner that protects the poor and the affected communities

    12.c.1

    Amount of fossil-fuel subsidies (production and consumption) per unit of GDP

    Goal 14

    Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

    Goal 14

    14.1

    By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution

    14.1.1

    (a) Index of coastal eutrophication; and (b) plastic debris density

    14.2

    By 2020, sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and take action for their restoration in order to achieve healthy and productive oceans

    14.2.1

    Number of countries using ecosystem-based approaches to managing marine areas

    14.3

    Minimize and address the impacts of ocean acidification, including through enhanced scientific cooperation at all levels

    14.3.1
    Average marine acidity (pH) measured at agreed suite of representative sampling stations

    14.4

    By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics

    14.4.1
    Proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels

    14.5

    By 2020, conserve at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, consistent with national and international law and based on the best available scientific information

    14.5.1
    Coverage of protected areas in relation to marine areas

    14.6

    By 2020, prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and refrain from introducing new such subsidies, recognizing that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should be an integral part of the World Trade Organization fisheries subsidies negotiation

    14.6.1

    Degree of implementation of international instruments aiming to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing

    14.7

    By 2030, increase the economic benefits to Small Island developing States and least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism

    14.7.1

    Sustainable fisheries as a proportion of GDP in small island developing States, least developed countries and all countries

    14.a

    Increase scientific knowledge, develop research capacity and transfer marine technology, taking into account the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Criteria and Guidelines on the Transfer of Marine Technology, in order to improve ocean health and to enhance the contribution of marine biodiversity to the development of developing countries, in particular small island developing States and least developed countries

    14.a.1
    Proportion of total research budget allocated to research in the field of marine technology

    14.b

    Provide access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets

    14.b.1

    Degree of application of a legal/regulatory/policy/institutional framework which recognizes and protects access rights for small‐scale fisheries

    14.c

    Enhance the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law as reflected in United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which provides the legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources, as recalled in paragraph 158 of "The future we want"

    14.c.1

    Number of countries making progress in ratifying, accepting and implementing through legal, policy and institutional frameworks, ocean-related instruments that implement international law, as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and their resources

    Name Description
    14.1 By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution
    Education initiative to galvanise the next generation
    Mass media campaigns to trigger consumer demand for plastic-free food and drink packaging
    Identification of alternative bio-degradable packaging solutions
    New legislation governing the use of single-use plastics for food and drink
    Staff / Technical expertise
    Media and communications team; design company; inventory of influencers in business, government and bio-alternatives.
    No progress reports have been submitted. Please sign in and click here to submit one.
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    Timeline
    01 July 2017 (start date)
    01 December 2021 (date of completion)
    Entity
    A Plastic Planet
    SDGs
    Geographical coverage
    London/UK
    Other beneficiaries
    APP's program will benefit anyone who buys their food in a supermarket and the next generation.
    Ocean Basins
    Global
    Communities of Ocean Action
    Marine pollution
    More information
    Countries
    N/A
    Contact Information

    Sian Sutherland, Co-founder