Plastic pollution is a serious global threat, endangering human health and livelihoods and having serious and often fatal consequences for wildlife. Humanity can solve this problem. If governments, the private sector and civil society take action across the entire plastic lifecycle, from production to use, recycling and disposal, we can nearly end plastic pollution by 2040. But this requires global decision-makers. We adopted ambitious and legally binding policies, but unfortunately efforts to help achieve them suffered a major setback this week.
United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee The fifth session, known as INC-5, aimed at developing an international treaty on plastic pollution concluded on December 1 without reaching an agreement. This is particularly disappointing since INC-5 was supposed to be the last meeting of the Commission and many experts expected the Commission to fulfill its mandate of producing a legally binding treaty. It is. This essentially postpones the world’s greatest opportunity to tackle plastic pollution until further meetings, which are yet to be scheduled.
One positive aspect of the week-long INC-5 negotiations in Busan, South Korea, was that even though a small group of negotiators blocked the development of a final agreement because of their opposition to binding provisions, , countries have made significant progress in drafting the document. throughout the plastic lifecycle.
In fact, INC-5 yielded the following results: 100 countries gather Promote the inclusion of measures to reduce plastic production to sustainable levels, which is central to an effective treaty. science clearly shows Recycling alone will not solve the plastic pollution problem. Without action, plastic production will be difficult. predicted to increase by 66% by 2040. And even with significant investments in waste management infrastructure, 54 million tonnes of plastic waste will still be mismanaged And more than half of the plastic will remain unrecycled.
As INC-5 concluded, 85 countries “ stand up for your ambitionsThe declaration sets out a legally binding commitment to the treaty, including a global goal to reduce plastic production to sustainable levels, an obligation to phase out the most harmful plastic products and chemicals, and adequate funding to implement the agreement. We are looking for certain regulations. A corresponding statement read by Rwanda during INC-5’s closing plenary received a standing ovation from the majority in the room.
It is critical that governments build on this momentum and complete an ambitious and legally binding treaty. In 2019, the estimated annual amount of plastic pollution released into the environment was equivalent to more than the weight of the Titanic per day. If we do nothing, that amount will almost double by 2040. Each delay means more plastic polluting the environment and people, further delaying the benefits this treaty would bring to humanity and the planet.
Sarah Baulch works on the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Ocean Plastic Prevention Project.
