Republic of Korea hosts WED 2025 with a focus on ending plastic pollution

Plastic pollution permeates every corner of the planet, even in our bodies in the form of microplastics. Celebrated on June 5 every year, World Environment Day 2025 calls for collective action to tackle plastic pollution. The Republic of Korea hosts WED 2025, with a focus on ending plastic pollution globally.

Ridding the planet of plastic pollution is a contribution to achieving the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals, including those on climate action, sustainable production and consumption, protection of seas and oceans, repairing ecosystems, and retaining biodiversity.

Plastics bring undeniable benefits—from energy savings to material conservation. Yet, the growing crisis of plastic pollution affects both planetary and human well-being. For decades, plastic pollution has infiltrated every corner of the world, contaminating the water we drink, the food we eat, and the air we breathe. Microplastics are now even found in our bodies. This year, World Environment Day comes exactly two months before countries meet again to continue negotiating a global treaty that offers us a chance to end plastic pollution and protect people and the planet.

Plastic pollution crisis

The rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution represent a serious global environmental issue that negatively impacts the environmental, social, economic, and health dimensions of sustainable development. Humanity was expected to consume over 500 million tons of plastics in 2024 alone, with a large share of these used plastics quickly becoming 400 million tons of plastic waste. Under a business-as-usual scenario and in the absence of urgent action and necessary interventions, global plastic waste could almost triple, reaching around 1.2 billion tonnes by 2060

More than 400 million tons of plastic are produced every year worldwide, half of which is designed to be used only once. Of that, less than 10 percent is recycled. An estimated 11 million tonnes end up in lakes, rivers and seas annually. That is approximately the weight of 2,200 Eiffel Towers altogether.

Microplastics—tiny plastic particles up to 5mm in diameter—find their way into food, water, and air. It is anticipated that each person on the planet consumes more than 50,000 plastic particles per year, and many more if inhalation is considered.

One widely used approach defines microplastics as any fragment of plastic that is between 1 nanometer and 5 millimeters wide. One nanometer is just a fraction of the width of a human hair, and 5 millimeters is about the width of a wedding band. 

Solutions and benefits 

The rewards of fixing plastic pollution are profound: cleaner oceans and lands, healthier people and ecosystems, greater climate resilience, and stronger economies. A circular economy for plastics offers a sustainable path forward. It means we need to rethink how we design, make, use, and reuse plastics. Products must be designed to be used more than once and recycled at the end of their life. This shift must include all stakeholders across the plastics value chain. A just transition is crucial to protect the livelihoods of waste pickers and impacted communities, ensuring social equity and leaving no one behind. 

World Environment Day (WED) encourages awareness and action for the protection of the environment.

The first time ‘The Stockholm Conference on Human Environment’ was held was in 1972. Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and held annually since 1973, it has grown to be the Largest global platform for environmental outreach.

Join the #BeatPlasticPollution movement—because we can create a healthier future. By drawing inspiration from nature and showcasing real-world solutions, the campaign will encourage individuals, organizations, industries, and governments to adopt sustainable practices that drive systemic change.

Industry speaks –

Mr Mahesh Ramanujam, Founder and CEO of the Global Network for Zero:

“On World Environment Day, we are reminded that sustainability is not a one-time milestone but a systemic and enduring commitment to regeneration and resilience. As India advances toward its net-zero goals and the larger vision of Viksit Bharat, environmental leadership must be embedded into every decision, from manufacturing floors to building blueprints. With India now the world’s fourth-largest economy and over 600 million citizens expected to live in urban centers by 2035, how we design our buildings, manage our resources, and reduce our waste, including plastics, will define the trajectory of our growth.

At the Global Network for Zero, we see buildings as the first frontier of climate action. They consume energy, generate emissions, and create material waste, but they also hold the key to transformation. By embedding emissions reduction, circularity, and resource efficiency into the way we build and operate, we believe we can decarbonize India’s infrastructure — one office, one factory, one community at a time. Net zero must be reframed not as an exclusive destination for the few, but a continuous, inclusive journey powered by innovation, local leadership, and scalable frameworks.”

Mr Arun Awasthy, President and Managing Director, Johnson Controls India:

India is urbanizing at an unprecedented pace. By 2036, over 600 million citizens are expected to live in cities, driving demand for nearly 70% of new building stock by 2047. This represents a critical opportunity to fundamentally rethink how we design and manage our urban infrastructure at the intersection of sustainability, resilience, and resource stewardship.

The built environment sits at the heart of global resource flows, accounting for approximately 40% of energy consumption and generating substantial material waste. These impacts are not isolated, they stem from deeply embedded inefficiencies in how buildings are conceived, constructed, and operated. Reducing resource pollution, therefore, requires a shift from downstream mitigation to upstream systems thinking, where energy, water, and materials are treated as interconnected assets rather than expendable inputs.

At Johnson Controls, our focus is on embedding intelligence and circularity into every layer of building design and operations. As we mark 30 years of our journey in India, we remain committed to enabling smarter buildings that not only optimize the use of energy, water, and materials but also proactively eliminate energy waste through advanced efficiency technologies. We believe the future of sustainability lies in designing urban ecosystems that are regenerative by intent, not just by outcome.”

For more information, visit: https://www.worldenvironmentday.global and https://www.unep.org