Greenpeace lobbyists unveiled an artwork in Paris on Saturday in the form of a machine producing bottles in front of an oil rig to coincide with talks on eliminating plastic waste.
Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong said his 5-meter-high work, located next to the Seine River, showed the link between fossil fuels and plastic pollution, which could triple in the next four decades.
With only about 9% of the waste recycled from the 460 million tons of plastic produced each year, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-2), organized by the United Nations, is aiming for a legally binding agreement to eliminate more.
“If we don’t act, by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans,” tweeted French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Saturday, citing the United Nations.
France hosted a ceremony to launch the talks on Saturday. The technical discussions will run from Monday to Friday.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said last year that global plastic waste could triple by 2060. But the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) said this month that countries could reduce it by 80% by 2040 using existing technologies and making major policy changes.
“We hope this machine will serve as an unflinching visual reminder of the urgency of this problem,” said artist Von Wong, according to the Greenpeace website.
Paris was also the scene of protests Friday by climate activists at TotalEnergies’ annual shareholder meeting.