India, June 5 -- In 2025, the world is projected to consume 516 million tons of plastic - an alarming increase of 116 million tons in just one year. Yet only 21% is economically recyclable, and a mere 9% is actually recycled. Plastics have become omnipresent - from the peaks of remote mountains and depths of oceans to the tissues of human bodies and even unborn foetuses (as micro- and nano-plastics transferred from the mother). What began as a revolutionary material for convenience and efficiency is now deeply entwined with one of the planet's most pressing environmental threats. This World Environment Day, there is an urgent need to come together and agree on ways to end plastic pollution including by phasing out single-use plastics. Our consumption patterns and dependence on plastics must change. Some industries have found them particularly useful. Agriculture and its allied sectors, for example, have used plastics to deliver safe, fresh food to consumers. But plastic comes with growing concerns. Farmers frequently lack awareness and capacity for proper disposal, while inadequate infrastructure for collection, segregation, and recycling aggravates the problem. In many countries, including India, plastics are often burned, buried, or left in fields, which contaminates soil and water, eventually polluting oceans and degrading ecosystems. For example, phytoplanktons, which form the base of several aquatic food webs, harbour microplastics that end up in aquatic organisms such as fish, and ultimately humans. Also, plastic production - an energy-hungry process - was responsible for more than 3% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2020, researchers estimate. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)'s landmark report, released in 2021, estimated 12.5 million tons of plastic products were used in agricultural value chains globally in 2019. Crop production and livestock were the largest users at 10 million tons annually, followed by fisheries and aquaculture with 2.1 million tons, and forestry with 0.2 million tons. India updated its Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, with key amendments in 2021, 2022, and 2024. These include a ban on select single-use plastics, the introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging, and new provisions to address microplastics, biodegradable plastics, and to promote waste reduction through deposit and buy-back systems. On top of such initiatives, there remains significant scope to strengthen and expand efforts further. Research and development will be a critical step. In February, FAO published a provisional Voluntary Code of Conduct outlining principles, actions, and measures that governments, plastic manufacturers, and agrifood stakeholders can adopt to promote sustainable management of plastics in agriculture. FAO's 2021 Assessment on Agricultural Plastics and their Sustainability advocated the so-called '6R model' - refuse, redesign, reduce, reuse, recycle and recover - for sustainable plastic management across the lifecycle, and recommended safe landfill disposal if 6R is unfeasible, while strictly avoiding open burning. Similarly, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)'s Plastics Initiative adopts a programmatic approach, delivering projects at global, regional, and national levels across high-impact sectors and value chains. This ensures efforts are tailored to specific contexts while contributing to the overall goal of reducing plastic pollution. In India, the Tide Turners Plastic Challenge has brought together about 700,000 youth to encourage individual actions to end pollution. We need more citizen-led actions. The focus should be on changing consumer behaviour, looking beyond recycling, and finding ways to limit the environmental and health problems caused by plastic pollution. We need a life-cycle approach grounded in principles of circularity in dealing with plastics. This means looking at every stage of products' lives, from their production, design, and consumption to their disposal. Research suggests the life-cycle approach could save the world $4.5 trillion in social and environmental costs through 2040. Ending the use of single-use plastic products must be prioritised. It means redesigning plastic products so that they last longer, are less dangerous and can be reused and ultimately recycled. It means finding alternatives to plastics in a range of products. And it means preventing plastics from seeping into the environment. These need strong regulatory regimes, effective compliance, enhanced consumer awareness - all coupled with cost efficiency and reduced environmental impacts of alternatives that we are investing in....