Human rights impacts of toxic plastics

HEJSupport contributed to the Report “The stages of the plastics cycle and their impacts on human rights” prepared by the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, Marcos Orellana.

The report inter alia highlights that women represent the majority of workers in the textile sector where they are exposed to synthetic fiber made out of plastic and face “risks and harms of breast cancer and reproductive disorders”.

The report also stresses that “the stages of the plastics cycle disproportionately affect people living in poverty”. It gives an example of cheap textiles made with plastic fibers that “have heavier impacts on people living in poverty”.