The role of development co-operation in tackling plastic pollution
Key trends, instruments, and opportunities to scale up action
Plastics leakage has become a pressing issue for many developing countries. While
a number of development co-operation initiatives with a focus on tackling plastic
pollution have recently emerged, there is currently no comprehensive assessment of
the volume and scope of international development co-operation in this area. This
report contributes to fill this gap by bringing together OECD’s unique statistical
sources and expertise. First, this paper assesses the scale of the plastic pollution
problem in developing countries by providing evidence on developing countries’ plastic
use, waste, and leakage volumes, and assessing the specificity of plastics-related
impacts in developing countries. Secondly, it quantifies development co-operation
support in this area through a refined methodology developed as part of the OECD Sustainable
Ocean for All Initiative. Finally, the paper presents innovative development co-operation
approaches that are helping developing countries to scale up financing and impact
of waste management projects.
Published on November 28, 2022
In series:OECD Environment Working Papersview more titles