Turning off the Tap - Key Messages

This key messages document outlines a solutions-focused roadmap to reduce global plastic pollution by 80% by 2040. Released ahead of the second round of negotiations on a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution, it proposes a comprehensive strategy centred on three major market shifts: reuse, recycle, and reorient and diversify. The plan calls for halving single-use plastic production, creating 700,000 jobs mainly in low-income countries—and achieving net savings and avoided externalities worth US$4.5 trillion. It stresses the need for urgent, simultaneous action across borders, warning that a five-year delay could add 80 million metric tons of plastic pollution. Key policy recommendations include eliminating problematic plastics, incentivising design for recyclability, implementing extended producer responsibility schemes, and establishing global standards.