Plastics: A crisis of and for the food system

The Agriculture, Nutrition & Health (ANH) Academy co-organised a special session at the World Public Health Nutrition Congress, ‘Plastics: A crisis of and for the food system’.

Food systems are a major driver of global plastic production and pollution, with wide-ranging inequitable effects on human and planetary health. Used extensively from farm to fork, plastics and the thousands of hazardous chemicals they contain, are driving staggering rates of environmental pollution that reverberate throughout society, ecosystems and food chains.

Drawing on the lived experiences of populations affected by this crisis, as well as scientists and policymakers working towards the UN-led Global Plastic Treaty, this session brings together diverse voices to demonstrate why the entire plastics lifecycle – from extraction and production, to use phase and end of life – deserves the close attention of the food and nutrition community.

Speakers:
Mengjiao (Melissa) Wang, Greenpeace Research Laboratories, University of Exeter
Suzanne Smoke, Society of Native Nations
Marie-France Dignac, French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE)
Jane Muncke, Food Packaging Forum Foundation
Costas Velis, University of Leeds
Carlos Monteiro, University of Sao Paulo
Corinna Hawkes, Food Systems and Food Safety, FAO
Ayan Harare, Oxfam in Africa Climate Justice Lead, Oxfam International
Jacob Kean-Hammerson, Environmental Investigation Agency
Joe Yates, Agriculture, Nutrition & Health Academy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
Megan Deeney, Agriculture, Nutrition & Health Academy, LSHTM