Standards and the international standardization landscape: Relevance to plastics

The document argues that while various plastic-related standards exist, they are currently fragmented, largely industry-driven, and insufficient on their own to solve plastic pollution. It emphasizes the need for government-led priorities and a complementary regulatory framework to make standards effective, particularly in supporting a potential global treaty on plastic pollution.

• Existing plastic standards are developed by various organizations but lack the comprehensiveness and consistency required to serve as global instruments for combating plastic pollution or as metrics for measuring progress.
• Standards are primarily voluntary and industry-led; they cannot solve plastic pollution without government-defined priorities—such as phasing out specific plastics and promoting reusability and recycling—and a supporting regulatory and policy framework.
• Standards could support a proposed global treaty on plastic pollution by providing monitoring tools and targets, provided that standards organizations adopt a holistic approach covering the entire plastics value chain and reduce fragmentation through increased cooperation.

APA

W., W. (2021). Standards and the international standardization landscape: Relevance to plastics. Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs. https://tessforum.org/latest/standards-and-the-international-standardization-landscape-relevance-to-plastics

Chicago

W., Weissinger,. Standards and the international standardization landscape: Relevance to plastics. Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs, 2021. https://tessforum.org/latest/standards-and-the-international-standardization-landscape-relevance-to-plastics.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=W. |first1=Weissinger, |title=Standards and the international standardization landscape: Relevance to plastics |publisher=Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs |date=26 August 2021 |url=https://tessforum.org/latest/standards-and-the-international-standardization-landscape-relevance-to-plastics |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{w2021standards, author = {W., Weissinger,}, title = {{Standards and the international standardization landscape: Relevance to plastics}}, institution = {Forum on Trade, Environment, \& the SDGs}, year = {2021}, month = aug, url = {https://tessforum.org/latest/standards-and-the-international-standardization-landscape-relevance-to-plastics}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }