Climate Adaptation

Even If World Reuses 50% Plastics, It Won't Be Enough, Says Jefferies

  • Outright bans, targeted taxes needed to curtail plastic use
  • Plastic pollution almost as big a concern as climate change

A worker sorts used plastic bottles at a plastics recycling mill in China.

Photographer: China Photos/Getty Images

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Even if countries aggressively tighten regulations, the planet will still struggle to recycle 50% of its plastic waste in 10 years time, according to a report from Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Deepening concern over the rising mountain of discarded plastic will force governments to toughen rules, and companies with a combined market value of $3.5 trillion will be hit by wide-ranging bans and taxes aimed at fighting plastic pollution, wrote Jefferies analysts including Simon Powell.