Each year, eight million tons of plastic waste enter marine environments due to human activity, posing severe threats to both human health and marine ecosystems. Tackling this crisis demands coordinated international efforts across legal, economic, and technical domains. While existing frameworks include general environmental norms and a limited set of specific hard and soft law regulations on plastic waste, significant gaps remain. This study explores two key questions: How can current international environmental law be leveraged to address marine plastic pollution? And what deficiencies persist in the existing system, requiring innovative solutions? The research reveals that binding and voluntary legal measures - applied both pre- and post-discharge of plastic waste - focus, albeit inadequately, on prevention, waste reduction, and control mechanisms. These include classifying plastic waste as hazardous, minimizing transboundary movement, promoting recycling, issuing guidelines for national and regional authorities, ensuring sound environmental management, conserving biodiversity, and encouraging responsible fishing practices. Despite these efforts, substantial shortcomings hinder effective implementation. Recognizing these gaps, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) adopted Resolution 14/5, mandating the development of a comprehensive international instrument on plastic pollution - covering both terrestrial and marine environments - by the end of 2024. This instrument aims to align with international environmental principles while addressing the socio-economic realities of developing nations. However, legal measures alone are insufficient. A holistic approach must also incorporate economic and technical strategies, such as ocean cleanup initiatives and fiscal policies like taxation, to create a sustainable and enforceable solution.