G20 Plastic Trash Reduction Goal Doesn’t Address ‘Excessive’ Production: Activists

Activists welcomed a goal set by the Group of 20 major economies’ to reduce additional plastic trash leaking into the ocean to zero by 2050.

A forklift car carries PET bottles for recycling at Minato Resource Recycle Center in Tokyo, Japan on June 10, 2019. Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

TOKYO—Activists welcomed a goal set by the Group of 20 major economies’ to reduce additional plastic trash leaking into the ocean to zero by 2050, but said it avoided getting at the heart of the problem - slashing the output of wasteful, single-use plastics in the first place.

They also said the target date was too far away and the limited number of steps to proposed by the G20 was voluntary, not legally binding, limiting their effectiveness.