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Voices around the world are becoming stronger to achieve complete elimination of plastic pollution by 2040 by refusing, reducing and recycling plastic products and introducing the use of plastic alternatives.
They are likely to raise them at the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on plastic pollution, including the marine environment (INC-2), to achieve a global treaty against plastic pollution is set to start in Paris, France on Monday.
In February 2022, the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) requested the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) executive director to convene an INC to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution.
The High Ambition Coalition (HAC), a group of 72 countries chaired by Norway, which met on May 26 in Paris, decided they will negotiate demanding a complete elimination of plastic pollution by 2040. Japan also joined the coalition that day.
On the other hand, another important negotiation group, European Union will urge a legally binding treaty for the total elimination of plastic pollution.
The Directorate-General for Environment of the European Commission on May 26 stated Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius will represent the commission at the high-level meeting organised by the United Nations.
With plastic production forecasted to triple by 2060, the EU will call for legally binding provisions to address the production of primary plastics, to make production and consumption sustainable, the statement said.
Shahriar Hossain, secretary general of the Environment and Social Development Organisation, attended the HAC meeting. Talking to The Business Post, he said, “Japan has joined the group with the aim to eliminate plastic pollution by 2040. The United States has also agreed in principle but it’s yet to join the group.”
“The coalition also wants to play an active role in production reduction considering the environmental and human health hazard caused through the whole lifecycle of plastic,” he said.
Six separate regional negotiating groups on Sunday are also set to finalise their position before the main negotiation starts. Asia Pacific, European Union, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Africa, while Australia, Canada and the US are in another group.
According to the latest UNEP report released on May 16, around 80 per cent of plastic pollution can be eliminated by 2040 and $4.5 trillion in investment costs can be saved.
In a circular economy, reuse of plastic will reduce pollution by 30 per cent and recycling will reduce 20 per cent while sustainable alternatives will reduce it further by 17 per cent, said the report.
It also said that 30 per cent of short-lived plastic products are avoidable and can be reduced.
More than 1,000 delegates from governments, NGOs, industries and civil society will discuss to conclude by the end of 2024 a new legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.
However, Shahriar said, “The manufacturers and suppliers of plastic goods need to rethink and restructure their business by giving priority to plastic alternative materials. Hundreds of chemicals are used in plastic products that have health hazard risks.”
