With the production of plastic on the rise worldwide and creating ever more pollution, the UN environment chief warns that humanity cannot just recycle its way out of the mess, and calls for a total rethink about the way we use plastics. "There are different sort of onramps to the highway to solutions. But I think everybody recognizes that the status quo is just not an option," says Inger Andersen, director of the UN Environment Program, in an interview Thursday with AFP on the sidelines of the General Assembly in New York. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES