Two things are almost certain to happen soon. UK environment secretary Michael Gove, moved to urgent action, will publish a plan to tackle plastic pollution. At about the same time, the annual limits on toxic air will be passed in at least one part of London 鈥� even though it鈥檚 only January 鈥� and be largely ignored by government.
In the first case, a staggering 8 million tonnes of plastic waste enters the oceans every year, ensnaring and drowning marine animals as well as contaminating the seafood that eventually ends up on our plates.
This pollution, which may see the oceans hold , was forced into the public consciousness by the BBC鈥檚 recent Blue Planet II series. Like millions of other viewers, Gove was left 鈥渉aunted鈥� by images of an ocean awash with bottles, bags, straws and coffee cups.
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In response, he is about to launch a war on plastic waste 鈥� a series of proposed measures that includes refundable deposits on plastic drinks bottles, incentives for retailers to use fewer types of plastic, and efforts to increase recycling.
That鈥檚 laudable when viewed in isolation. But Gove鈥檚 rush to address the plastics problem is in stark contrast to inaction on toxic air. One could hardly be blamed for suspecting that a focus on plastics is a convenient diversion from the government鈥檚 failure to address the nation鈥檚 largest, and far deadlier, environmental concern.
Dangerous city air
The grave reality is that millions of people in dozens of UK cities are inhaling air . A chief contributor to the toxic mix is nitrogen dioxide (NO2), mostly from diesel vehicles. Levels of this noxious gas have overshot legal limits in much of urban Britain since 2000.
In London, the annual limit is routinely breached as soon as January. In 2017, Brixton Road broke it within days, and in 2016, Putney High Street did likewise.
In all likelihood, at least one London borough will have illegally high NO2 levels within the . For residents, this is potentially fatal. Together with other air pollutants, NO2 contributes to each year in the UK, mainly from respiratory illness and heart disease. These deaths are avoidable, yet the government has refused to prevent them, instead cosying up with the auto industry and its powerful lobbyists.
It may yet be forced to act. Environmental law firm ClientEarth is to get it to solve the problem, and quickly 鈥� as required under EU law.
Wasting money and lives
Gove knows full well what the solution is. According to the government鈥檚 own analyses, published last May, clean air zones (CAZs) 鈥� which clamp down on some diesel vehicles in cities 鈥� are by far the best option for slashing NO2 from transport. They are .
But the latest UK air pollution control plan, the result of legal action, calls for no mandatory CAZs, instead making them optional in the most polluted cities, such as Birmingham. What鈥檚 worse, no action at all is required in 45 districts with illegally toxic air, including Leicester, Oxford and Liverpool.
In fighting ClientEarth in court, the government has already wasted 拢370,000, not to mention countless lives. Important as it is to reduce plastic waste, Gove would do well to remember that a government鈥檚 duty first and foremost is to protect the lives of its citizens, not its fish.
