Minderoo Foundation quantifies plastic pollution costs to over US$100B globally

18 Oct 2022 --- The Minderoo Foundation has published its “The Price of Plastic Pollution” report, analyzing and warning about the state of plastic-related pollution, its associated climate risks and the implications for the stakeholders involved.

The report estimates the social costs arising from all forms of plastic-related pollution – although dependent on imperfect assumptions – to exceed US$100 billion each year, much of it driven by human health harm. In 2021, the global plastics market was worth approximately US$600 billion. 

“This report builds on the already compelling evidence that plastic inflicts unacceptable damage on our health – and on that of our children. Arrested cognitive development, reduced reproductive viability, increased cardiovascular disease and obesity. The list goes on – and is increasing in length,” says Dr. Andrew Forrest, chairman at the Minderoo Foundation. 

“Despite this tragic evidence, corporations continue to release millions of metric tons of plastic products into the environment. They are not being held accountable for the damage they have inflicted and continue to inflict on humanity, our economy and our communities.”

“The question is no longer, are you a good plastics industry director? It is what are you doing to help society reduce and then eliminate the burden of ubiquitous and toxic plastic pollution while you profit from its harm?” he continues. 

Established by Dr. Andrew Forrest and Nicola Forrest in 2001, the Minderoo Foundation is Australia-based and one of Asia Pacific’s largest philanthropic organizations. 

Corporations release millions of metric tons of plastic into the environment and are not being held accountable, finds the report. Stakeholder actions required
The report outlines the actions that multiple stakeholders must take, according to Minderoo:

• Corporates are required to disclose where their operations expose them to plastic-related pollution. Insurers need complete visibility of potential exposures to transfer the knowledge of emerging risks to corporate clients.
• Investors should demand for disclosure of plastic-related pollution risks and prioritize a reduction in harm across their portfolios.
• Insurance supervisors should ensure that potential exposures are understood at a company and industry level and that capitalization standards meet the level of risk.
• Policymakers have an unprecedented opportunity to establish a set of preventive measures to reduce human health harms from plastics and to advance efforts on circular plastic material management as part of a global plastics treaty.

Identifying responsibilities 
The report recognizes plastic-related pollution as having unique complexity due to the number of actors in the supply chain, multiple sources and points of exposure, its ubiquity, and the fact that other environmental factors can be linked to similar harms. 

Climate-related liabilities are facing similar challenges in attributing the damage done to specific actors. However, Minderoo believes that the systems of justice will catch up as rapid advances are made in the science of attributing specific causes to complex outcomes and as lawyers successfully develop new and alternative theories of causation. 

“There is a real possibility of a major increase in claims activity and severity in the medium term. The exposures occurring now and in the near future could significantly affect the plastics industry and their insurers, and therefore require the immediate attention of both,” states the report.

“But we cannot rely exclusively on legal channels to compensate society for the harms caused by the plastics industry.”

Minderoo founder Forrest says it is necessary to think about how societies can be supported with coping with plastic waste. Conflicts of interest?
A report by the Plastics Industry Association takes a closer look at the Minderoo Foundation and draws attention to the organization’s potential conflicts of interest. The association questions Minderoo’s  authority to speak on environmental issues given its involvement in the mining sector. 

Comprehensive reporting on the foundation’s “Plastic Waste Makers Index,” which blames select companies and the US for being the largest contributors to global plastic waste challenges, should, according to the association, also include context of how the Minderoo Foundation is funded. It should also take into account the complexities and necessities of material creation.

“While the metals and mining sector creates materials that we need in our daily lives, the mining industry, like the plastics industry, can create environmental impacts that need to be weighed against the benefits and examined with an eye toward how the industry can continually improve its practices,” highlights the association. 

Urgent need for global plastic treaty 
There are damaging – and, in the long-term, potentially catastrophic – harms from plastic-related pollution, including those affecting the ocean, that as yet have no legal pathway for redress, claims the Minderoo report. 

New, previously unknown harms will also emerge, asserts Minderoo. This poses challenging questions for the plastics industry, insurers, and society at large, on how the risks and costs of these harms are prevented, mitigated and distributed – and must form part of the ongoing negotiations for a legally-binding global treaty on plastic pollution.

By Natalie Schwertheim