In a final attempt to draft a convention to address the global plastic pollution catastrophe, negotiators convened in Busan, South Korea, on Monday.
This is the seventh time that nations from across the world have come together to create a legally binding agreement on plastic pollution. Together with national delegations, scientists, environmentalists, and officials from the plastics sector have arrived to influence global approaches to the growing issue.
The United Nations claims that plastic is suffocating the globe. It is contaminating rivers, lakes, seas, and human bodies.
In a statement to negotiators, Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, advised them not to kick the can or the plastic bottle down the road.
The intergenerational justice of the generations that will follow us and have to put up with all of this trash is at stake here. In an interview, she stated, “We can solve this and we must get it done in Busan.”
FILE – A pedestrian carries takeaway food in a plastic bag in Hong Kong, March 13, 2024.(AP Photo/Louise Delmotte, File)
Image courtesy of Louise Delmotte/Associated Press
Significant disparities in objectives and interests have been shown by the last four international summits. The discussions for this week end on Saturday.
66 nations and the European Union, led by Norway and Rwanda, have stated their desire to reduce the amount of plastic on Earth by regulating its design, manufacture, consumption, and final destination. The Bridge to Busan initiative, which aimed to raise awareness of unsustainable plastic manufacture, was spearheaded by a team from the devastated island nation of Micronesia. The massive volumes of plastic debris from other nations that wash up on their coastlines are a problem for island nations.
Going upstream and addressing the issue at its root is, in our opinion, the essence of the treaty, said Dennis Clare, Micronesia’s plastics negotiator and legal advisor. “You can’t recycle your way out of this problem” is the tagline.
Saudi Arabia and other oil and gas and plastic-producing nations disagree. They are adamantly against limiting the production of plastics. Fossil fuels are used to make most plastic. According to the Plastics Industry Association, Saudi Arabia accounted for an estimated 17% of global exports last year, making it the world’s top supplier of primary polypropylene, a prevalent type of plastic.
According to the association, the top three countries for plastics imports and exports worldwide in 2023 were China, the US, and Germany.
The plastics industry has been pushing for a pact that would emphasize circularity—the revamping, recycling, and reusing of plastic items. According to Chris Jahn of the secretariat of the International Council of Chemical Associations, in order to reach an agreement, negotiators should concentrate on reducing environmental plastic waste rather than plastic production. According to him, many nations will not sign a convention that imposes output caps.
There will be more plastics if the world economy is to keep developing and expanding, Jahn continued.
According to Jahn, we should therefore work to keep those plastics out of the environment and in the economy.
At initially, the US delegation advocated for nations to create their own plans for action, which was seen as favoring business. This summer, it shifted its stance, stating that the United States is amenable to taking into account international goals for reducing the production of plastic.
As negotiations drew near, environmental organizations charged that the United States was reversing course.
Sarah Martik, executive director of the Center for Coalfield Justice, stated that the United States is keeping their thumb on the scale during the entire negotiation process and is not taking the lead. She hopes that other nations’ aspirations won’t be derailed by this.
Martik stated that she believes too many of the voluntary actions in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s national strategy to avoid plastic pollution are insufficient to have an impact. The strategy was announced on Thursday.
According to Democratic U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the United States is making a mistake by settling for the lowest common denominator suggestions in an attempt to reach some sort of consensus.
Ecuador’s committee head, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, has suggested language for passages he believes the delegations may accept.
The intergovernmental Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development projects that, without legislative adjustments, worldwide plastic output and consumption will exceed 736 million tons by 2040, a 70% increase from 2020.
It is still possible to almost completely eradicate plastic pollution, according to research published this month in Science. Limiting new plastic production to 2020 levels, requiring new products to be made with 40% post-consumer recycled plastic, investing heavily in plastic waste management, including landfills and waste collection services, and imposing a small fee on plastic packaging are the policies that have the biggest impact.
According to Douglas McCauley, a professor at UC Santa Barbara and UC Berkeley, the treaty is the only solution to the problem of plastic pollution on this scale. McCauley was a co-leader of the study.
Plastic pollution was once primarily seen as a trash issue, according to Margaret Spring, chief conservation and research officer at Monterey Bay Aquarium. According to Spring, who is representing the International Science Council at the negotiations, it is now commonly seen as an existential problem that needs to be addressed.
Given how complicated the subject is, I’ve never witnessed people’s comprehension of it advance so quickly, she added. I’m encouraged that we can start turning the dial.
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