A new report published this week shows how the UK is falling behind on tackling microplastics, risking agricultural sustainability.
Released by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Microplastics, the Women’s Institute and Global Plastics Policy Centre, Tackling Microplastic Pollution in the UK presents a stark warning to government.
According to the document, microplastics accumulating in soils are posing a direct threat to food security. Substances have been detected in the food chain, with seafood the most common type. Meat, fruit, vegetables, milk and drinking water have also been found to contain synthetic textiles, paints, plastic pellets, wastewater systems, packaging, and farming plastics, amongst other pollutants. Human exposure and the impact on public health is therefore rapidly increasing.
The following recommendations have been made to Downing Street:
- Establish a clear UK policy framework with legally binding targets and coordinated leadership.
- Regulate the largest sources of microplastic releases through upstream product and design measures.
- Strengthen producer responsibility and economic incentives to reduce releases across the plastics lifecycle.
- Improve wastewater, sewage sludge and soil protections to reduce major leakage pathways.
- Build a coordinated national monitoring and evidence system to support regulation, evaluate progress and inform future policy.
‘The UK has an opportunity to move from a fragmented response to a coordinated strategy that tackles microplastics across the plastics lifecycle,’ said Dr Antaya March, Director of the Global Plastics Policy Centre at Portsmouth University. ‘We should not wait for every scientific uncertainty to be resolved before acting where the evidence already shows that intervention can prevent pollution and reduce future risks.
‘Microplastic pollution is increasingly recognised as one of the defining environmental challenges of our time. We are continuously exposed to microplastics, and the chemicals associated with them through the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe,’ added Alberto Costa MP, Chair of the microplastics APPG. ‘While research into their long-term impacts continues, it is clear that reducing microplastic pollution at source should be a priority. Despite the evidence, the UK’s response remains limited. Existing measures tackle only a tiny proportion of microplastic emissions.’
Image: ROBIN WORRALL / Unsplash
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