Whether it is a carrier bag floating across the street in a gust of wind, or a disposable bottle washed up on a beach 10,000km away from where its contents were drunk — plastic pollution is everywhere.
It is a huge problem stretching to all areas of the world. Of all the plastic produced globally, 40 percent is packaging, and a significant share of it is used just once and then discarded, contributing to the growing plastic pollution crisis.
As obvious and apparent as the problem is in our everyday lives, it is not too late to turn the tide on what has become one of the world’s most-pressing environmental issues.
To create the critical and urgent change needed, we need a legally-binding treaty underpinned by harmonized regulations that can tackle the entire lifecycle of plastic products. Anything less will see us continue down a ‘business-as-usual’ path which no longer works for people or the planet.
Delegates from across Europe and the world are gathering in Ottawa, Canada, during 23-29 April 2024 for the latest round of negotiations towards a global plastics treaty. They have a real and rare chance to lead the fight to end plastic pollution with an ambitious global treaty.
These representatives are convening for INC-4, the second-to-last round of talks which offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enhance the quality of life of our planet and for many generations to come.
There is no time to waste, and ambition is critical to success in ending plastic pollution. We must not settle for a treaty that falls short of delivering this goal.
Business needs global rules
In September 2022, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) joined forces to convene the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, giving a voice to more than 200 businesses, financial institutions and NGO partners calling for an ambitious treaty to eliminate plastic waste and pollution.
The coalition is pushing for an ambitious U.N. treaty that brings plastics into a circular economy, stopping them from becoming waste or pollution.
Businesses are calling for a treaty which tackles plastic pollution by reducing the amount of plastic used; by circulating all plastics which cannot be eliminated; and by prevention and remediation of any remaining plastic pollution.
The supporters and members of the coalition acknowledge the fact that business needs global rules.
They recognize there’s a rare opportunity here. A global treaty can bring benefits to businesses by harmonizing policy efforts, enhancing their investment planning, stimulating innovation and coordinating infrastructure development.
The coalition is appealing for treaty negotiations to include common, global rules related to restrictions and phase-outs; reuse policies; product design requirements; extended producer responsibility, and waste management.
With limited time left for negotiations, we also need to agree on a ‘start and strengthen’ approach to prioritize short-lived plastic applications such as packaging, which creates around 40 percent of total plastic waste globally. We can then build on this over time to tackle additional priority sectors.
Change is possible
The Global Commitment — the biggest global voluntary effort to tackle plastic pollution and waste — has shown that it is possible to make progress on this pressing environmental issue, yet more binding measures are needed to curb the crisis.
Business signatories of the Global Commitment — representing 20 percent of the world’s plastic packaging industry — have significantly outperformed their peers when it comes to implementing efforts to reduce virgin plastic use and make their packaging reusable or recyclable.
Over the past five years, signatories’ efforts to more than double their use of recycled plastics has resulted in the equivalent of a barrel of oil being left in the ground every two seconds, and 2.5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions being avoided.
Time to act decisively
While many companies and countries have taken important steps to address plastic pollution, voluntary agreements alone cannot reach the scale we need to urgently solve this crisis.
It is crucial to build on lessons from existing efforts to shape globally-binding rules that can scale available solutions to tackle plastic pollution globally, and create transparency and a level playing field for industry.
Businesses believe that these are the critical elements which have the greatest potential to deliver change as soon as possible.
Action must now happen faster, and on a much bigger scale.
We know there is still much work to be done, and there is no time to waste.
With less than a year to realize this opportunity, and with a framework with enough ambition to tackle the global crisis yet to be finalized, it is now time to act decisively.
Carsten Wachholz and John Duncan are co-leads of the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty Secretariat.
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