5 June 2025

Today, the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) joins the global community in celebrating World Environment Day 2025, focused on ending plastic pollution under the theme #BeatPlasticPollution.

Amid these celebrations, ZELA notes with concern the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) findings that an estimated 11 million tonnes of plastic waste leak into aquatic ecosystems annually. Furthermore, microplastics from sewage, landfills, and agricultural products accumulate in our soils. UNEP quantifies the staggering annual social and environmental cost of this pollution at US$300–600 billion.

Critically, plastic pollution exacerbates the triple planetary crisis — climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution/waste — deepening its deadly impacts. Therefore, ZELA embraces this year’s theme as a vital intervention for Zimbabwe, where authorities continue grappling with plastic use and waste management.

This focus is particularly timely as it aligns with crucial progress toward a global treaty to end plastic pollution, with the next negotiation round scheduled for 5–14 August in Geneva. ZELA calls for an agreement that meaningfully addresses all facets of the plastics crisis.

As World Environment Day is observed, ZELA also reiterates its call for this treaty to fully incorporate national circumstances. African nations, in particular, require a fair, equitable, and inclusive transition — especially for affected populations and those in vulnerable situations, including women, children, youth, and waste pickers.

In Zimbabwe, the pivotal role of the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, the Environmental Agency (EMA) and other stakeholders is undeniable. ZELA thus calls for stronger efforts on plastic waste to enable immediate, effective action toward the long-term elimination of plastic pollution. This is essential to protect Zimbabwe’s environment, ecosystems, and the human activities they sustain from irreversible detriment.

ZELA stands ready to assist these critical efforts and pledges support for national commemorations of World Environment Day.

To ensure this year’s celebrations of World Environment Day realise tangible success, ZELA recommends the following necessary follow-up actions:

• Plastic Production Reduction – The Plastics Treaty should provide mechanisms to substantially reduce aggregate global plastic production to protect human and environmental health, uphold human rights for current and future generations, and respect planetary boundaries.
• Prioritise Reuse –The Treaty should prioritise the reduction of plastics and expand the implementation of reuse systems rather than relying on recycling.
• Waste Management – The Treaty should ensure governments apply the zero-waste hierarchy, applying the prevention and precautionary principles to chemicals, polymers, and plastic products.
• Microplastics –The Treaty should develop and implement tailored measures to prevent microplastic pollution at source and across the full lifecycle of plastics, including alternatives and substitutes.
• Non-Essential Plastic Products – The Treaty should promote the sustainable consumption and production of primary plastic by eliminating specific problematic polymers, chemicals, products and applications of concern.