Parley AIR: Global Plastics Treaty
A Closer look at the closed-door talks BEHIND INC-5 and what could be the Paris Agreement of Plastics.
This is a pivotal year for plastic pollution. United Nations leaders have until the end of 2024 to finalize a global plastics treaty that would lay out a plan to minimize plastic waste. The fifth round of negotiations, INC-5, kicked off in Busan, South Korea, in November 2024. Update: they concluded without reaching an agreement.
If leaders choose to, they could drastically reduce plastic pollution by 2040 with a legally binding treaty. Of course, much depends on what goes into that treaty and, as we’ve seen with the Paris Climate Accord thus far, whether and how it is implemented. As Norwegian Minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim warned, unless countries agree to curb production, the world will be “unable to cope” with plastic pollution a decade from now. After nearly three years of talks, delegates are meeting for a final time. The nitty gritty of meetings like these can be overwhelming to decipher, but understanding why the talks are happening, where the biggest polluting nations stand on the issue, and the influence industry may have on the outcome is imperative information. We need to understand what’s happening behind closed doors in order to use our voices to call of change — and to push leaders to draft a global plastics treaty that is not full of loopholes.
As 2024 nears a close, we’re laying out what you need to know about the 175-country plan for a global treaty aimed at shifting the globe to a less-plastic future.
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HOW DID WE GET HERE?
In short: we rapidly plasticized the planet. If no action is taken, the amount of plastic produced is projected to increase by 22% between now and 2050, and plastic pollution will increase by more than 60%. Plastic never goes away, it just breaks down into pieces of micro and nano plastics that infiltrate all corners of the globe, including our bodies. Plastic chokes our rivers and oceans, and pervades every known ecosystem.
Already, 99% of plastic is created from fossil fuels, driving the planet further into a point of no return with climate change, a reality where even Earth’s largest biome – the oceans – wouldn’t function properly anymore.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) finally started to address these issues on a global scale in February 2022. That’s when the first talks for the UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution were held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, with the aim of agreeing on terms by the end of 2024.
Then, in June of last year, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), industry representatives and delegates from 175 countries met in Paris for a second round of discussions on what the world’s biggest players in plastic pollution must do to stop one of the most dangerous streams of toxic pollution on our planet.
They met again in mid-November, in Nairobi, Kenya, for a third round of talks, where they reviewed more than 500 proposals on how a treaty that would drastically reduce plastic pollution might look. Member states unanimously agreed that the world is in the midst of a global plastic pollution crisis, and that the best way to take action for the future is with a life cycle approach. But they could not yet agree on where, exactly, that life cycle should start – more on that below.
The delegates met for a fourth time in April, in Ottawa, Canada. It was honestly a bit disheartening. The meeting was marred by the presence of even more lobbyists from the oil and gas and chemicals industries, just as has happened at the COP conferences. And because little work had been done on the treaty draft between meetings up to this point, progress has been slow.
In a written statement, a U.S. official said defining the start of the plastic life cycle at production would scare away big oil and gas producing countries from joining the treaty, and, as that the world’s largest producer of plastic waste wouldn’t support it.
In an August twist, the U.S. went back on what that official said. Just months before the final meeting, the U.S. joined the list of nations in support of a global plastics treaty that starts at plastic production. The move put the U.S. in direct opposition with China, the world’s leading plastic producer. This was huge. Although other big oil-producing countries like Russia and Saudi Arabia have hurled efforts to block the treaty from including limits on plastic production.
In early November, 10 U.S. states doubled down on this new sentiment. They wrote letters showing their support for the treaty to take a tougher stance on plastics from manufacturing raw materials to recycling. Just before the talks, however, in a reversal described by environmentalists as “absolutely devastating,” the Biden administration backtracked and said the U.S. would not support a cap on plastic production.
Much uncertainty remains. Donald Trump, who has been vocal about opening up more drilling for oil, the basis of plastic, and rolling back environmental protections, has been elected the next president of the U.S. and will take office in January. During his last term, he pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, and vowed to do so again after President Joe Biden rejoined. Experts fear he will align with big oil-producing countries including Russian, Iran and Saudi Arabia, who have been trying to hurl blocks at the treaty.
The final global plastics treaty meeting – called INC-5 – will take place at the end of this month, in Busan, South Korea, from November 25–December 1, 2024. According to the original deadline, this is the meeting in which a final agreement needs to be drafted. The treaty will not immediately go into effect, but that will be the next step.
THE ISSUES
Last year, negotiators created a document that the UN is calling Zero Draft. Essentially, it’s a working rough draft of the treaty and outlines what leaders believe are the biggest issues surrounding plastic pollution. Here’s what they’ve included so far:
Where does the plastic life cycle start?
At the heart of the debate is whether a treaty should restrict corporations from producing plastic polymers, the building blocks for all plastic products, from bottles to furniture.
Some plastic treaty delegates consider these nodules the origin of plastic pollution, and therefore where the life cycle approach to curbing plastic pollution should start. But others believe that blocking new plastic production should not be the focus. It’s an effort to protect the economy of plastics, and supporters want the life cycle to start once plastic is thrown out, i.e. with plastic pollution.
Big oil and plastic-producing countries including China, Russia and Saudi Arabia, have been trying to block the treaty from including limits on new plastic production. A growing number of countries including EU member states, South Korea, Canada, Rwanda, Peru, and now the U.S., support having a treaty that limits how much new plastic can enter the pollution stream in the first place.
Added chemicals
Alongside oil and gas lobbyists were those who came on behalf of the chemical industry. Plastics contain more than 4,200 hazardous chemicals, according to a recent study. The majority are not regulated globally.
Scientists are just beginning to understand how the chemicals that are regulated impact human health in a negative way. During the INC talks, U.N. delegates have been considering whether to control plastic additives, which make plastics different from one another and extremely difficult to recycle. Aside from making plastics unrecyclable, many of these chemicals are increasingly being linked to human health issues like cancer.
Recycling isn’t a solution
If done right and with transparency, recycling existing plastic can be an important step towards building a better system, but it’s an imperfect plan for repurposing a problematic material. First, not all plastic can be recycled. Thermoset plastics – hard plastics that are melted and molded into things like coolers and car parts – cannot be re-melted and turned into something else once they’ve set. The chemistry used to make this type of plastic doesn’t allow it. Currently, only about 9% of all plastic that’s created is recycled.
Recycling also isn’t some beacon of environmental stewardship as it’s been portrayed to be. Big Plastic has come under fire for its links to Big Oil. In September, the state of California and several environmental groups sued Exxon Mobil for misleading the public through decades-long recycling campaigns that promise more than they achieve. Even when plastic items are returned to the system, recycling carries environmental costs.
Just like plastics manufacturing, the practice is deeply rooted in social justice issues that disproportionately impact BIPOC communities, women and people living in the Global South.
Social justice is a plastic pollution issue that has made it into the Zero Draft. It states that “each party shall promote and facilitate a fair, equitable and inclusive transition for affected populations, with special consideration for women and vulnerable groups, including children and youth.” This specifically relates to recycling, which is often done by people living in the Global South. More on that here.
Firstwave™ Film by Sway, made entirely from seaweed and plants.
Moving towards a Material Revolution
So far, the rough draft does include plans – though not detailed ones – to reduce plastic at the design phase of products (enter: the Material Revolution). There’s a huge focus here on packaging, the source of about 40% of the world’s plastic waste.
The delegates are also grappling over total bans on certain plastics – i.e. disposable items – and whether those should be implemented globally or just in certain countries, primarily the biggest plastic polluters.
WHAT CAN WE DO
With so many important issues to speak up about in the world, it’s easy for many to get lost in the news cycle.
The truth is, for humanity to solve the plastic crisis we created, we need influential world and corporate leaders – especially those in top-polluting nations like the U.S., Brazil, Europe and China, and the biggest private offenders, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestlé – to change course. What we can do is put pressure on them to do so and to vote with every consumer decision we make.
Even an imperfect treaty will in some way be a step forward, but it’s just language until action is taken. To end the plastic crisis and the climate and social justice issues it creates, we need to think bigger and reimagine our world. Plastic is a design failure. Fixing it is the ultimate design challenge. Humanity can do better than plastics. Don’t wait to participate in the process of change: Avoid. Intercept. Redesign.
TAKE ACTION
Read up, make noise, spread the word and give others the tools to do the same. Systemic change won’t come unless we demand it.
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