The Substitution Principle
When an alternative material, substance or chemical becomes available it must be substituted. Substitution is costly and complex and will require incentives coupled with strict regulation.
The United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA5) will meet in Nairobi on 28 February – 2 March 2022 to negotiate and agree on a new legally binding global agreement on plastic pollution that will help in the eradication of plastic pollution.
We welcome this global treaty; there is no time to waste and the world needs to coordinate efforts. Up until now voluntary measures by individual companies and governments have lacked coordination. A wider systemic change is needed; issues and implementation are complex and interconnected across industries, sectors and verticals.
Additionally, we’re in a discovery phase of rapid development in materials and manufacturing processes. Across many applications, we are at the early stages of integrating alternative materials as we navigate our way towards solutions based on circularity.
This is why we believe the treaty must make provision for this rapidly changing landscape of progress in fields like materials science and biomaterials and polymer development. There needs to be a mechanism in place that leaves the door open to scientific advancement at this early stage. For example, when an alternative material, substance or chemical becomes available, the legal framework must a) allow for its substitution and b) enable incentivization for adoption.
We call this the Substitution Principle.
Photo by Clark Van Der Beken on Unsplash
