With the ubiquitous use of plastics in modern societies, plastic pollution has become one of the defining environmental challenges of our time. Governments across the world have already recognized this, undertaking a variety of measures to curb the reliance on the plastics and plastic products that they consider to be the most harmful, or the least necessary, and setting in motion international cooperation processes at both the UN and the WTO to find collective solutions.
As these international discussions proceed, this report aims to shed light on the trade-related measures that have already been taken and notified by WTO members in their efforts to reduce plastic pollution.
It provides a detailed examination of these existing measures and offers suggestions on how governments could build on them as they consider their next individual or collective steps in addressing the plastics crisis.