Time is running out for a treaty to end plastic pollution. This is why it’s important

On 2 March 2022, delegates to the United Nations Environment Assembly adopted an ambitious resolution to develop the text of a new treaty to eliminate plastic pollution by the end of 2024. The fifth and final round of negotiations is about to be held in Busan, South Korea, after 24 days of formal negotiations between some 200 countries, which concluded after meetings in Peru, France, Kenya and Canada. This is the critical moment. Failure to find agreement could lead to lost opportunities for global action against plastic pollution.

I have spent the past decade researching international efforts to tackle plastic pollution. During this time, I have witnessed a dramatic increase in plastic waste. An estimated 400 million tons are thrown away every year. Plastic pollution is now ubiquitous.

The issue of plastic pollution has risen to the social and political agenda in a way that few could have predicted. Global action always takes into account the big picture, as the plastic economy crosses borders and actions within one jurisdiction, while beneficial locally, tend to fail to address global pollution patterns. That was the missing part.

Tackling plastic pollution requires a transformation of the entire plastics economy. This should focus on reuse and refill schemes that reduce the need for new plastic products and the need to replace plastics with other less polluting and harmful materials.

Along with a team of policy researchers, I have attended the past three plastics treaty negotiations as an observer to assess progress towards a global treaty. In most cases, progress has been slow, largely due to tactical delay and blockage by some countries dependent on fossil fuel industries. Petrochemical industry lobbying is blocking further progress. Given the tight timetable for agreeing a treaty, I fear that no agreement will be reached.

3 priorities

Final negotiations should include three things.

The immediate priority is to agree on rules governing how decisions will be made in negotiations between member states, known as “rules of procedure”. Currently, decisions are made by consensus. This means that all delegations must agree before a decision is reached.

The positions of some countries are so far apart that consensus-based decision-making is unlikely to result in quick agreement, given the firm positions of some countries. Procedural rules should include a voting mechanism to allow a decision to be made and to move forward even if agreement cannot be reached, provided a definitive agreement is reached between most countries.

The second important issue is finance. Plastic pollution is the challenge facing low- and middle-income countries most acutely. A plastics treaty is only likely to be effective if the countries most affected by plastic pollution have sufficient resources to take action.

As seen in the climate change debate, finance is highly contentious and raises serious questions. These include who will pay for the problems plastic pollution already causes, new measures to combat plastic pollution, and how donor countries can provide the necessary skills and training.

The role of the private sector is also important in the plastics economy, and discussions are ongoing about innovative privately financed options to support the implementation of the Convention. For a treaty to be credible, agreement on the broad terms of the financing mechanism for its implementation is essential.

The treaty must also focus on actions most likely to reduce plastic pollution. There is clear evidence that reducing the production of primary plastic polymers is the most efficient and effective way to reduce plastic pollution.

Plastics are produced faster than waste management systems can keep up. Therefore, a treaty focused on waste management will not be able to significantly reduce plastic pollution. We can stop the flood of plastic waste by simply putting the brakes on plastic production.

Of course, there are many other important factors to agree upon during negotiations. Standards need to be set to identify problematic, unnecessary and avoidable plastics that companies should stop producing. Problematic plastics negatively impact human health and the environment, so chemicals of concern must be removed from plastic materials and products. Nonessential plastics are plastics that have a function that is considered non-essential, and avoidable plastics are plastics that have an essential function but can be replaced with non-plastic alternatives. It means.

Subsidies for virgin plastic that make single-use products so economically attractive need to be abolished. The changes to the plastics economy brought about by this treaty must also benefit workers in the informal waste sector.

This week is a big one for the world’s relationship with plastics. People and the planet depend on it.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.