February 28, 2022 - World leaders gathered to discuss plans for a global plastic pollution treaty, which U.N. representatives described as the most important multilateral treaty since the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. The potential treaty is expected to be a key discussion at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) 5.2 in Nairobi, Kenya, this week.
Politicians, NGOs, industry stakeholders and environmental scientists are weighing the terms of the global treaty and how this will affect broader climate change goals and global economic development. At the heart of the conference is a global ban on certain types of single-use plastics - a topic that has generated widespread controversy within the EU.
In an interview with PackagingInsights, Giorgia Monti, a marine activist with Greenpeace Italy, said, "Greenpeace and its allies in the movement to get rid of plastic are demanding a strong, legally binding global plastics treaty that addresses the entire lifecycle of plastics from production to end-of-life. "
"The leaders of UN Environment 5.2 should commit to begin negotiations on a global plastics treaty that must be commensurate with the scale of the plastics crisis. We want a formal, ratified agreement among UN member states to agree on terms that address the plastics crisis from production to disposal."
Leaders will discuss two proposals at the conference, one by Rwanda and Peru to address the impact of plastics across the life cycle, and another by Japan focusing on marine litter.
Global Issues
NGOs warn that if this conference fails to provide a legally binding multilateral solution to the plastic pollution problem, the environmental consequences could be even more catastrophic, with ocean pollution, air pollution and landfills continuing to poison the world.
According to Greenpeace, the waste management infrastructure, materials and designs used to make common packaging items are currently inadequate and difficult to manage, to the point where only 9 percent of the planet's plastics are recycled or even less reused. The summit will seek scientific proof that the plastic pollution problem is globally interconnected and cannot be solved by individual countries alone.
Andrew Mollet, chief executive officer of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, said, "Plastic pollution does not stop at national borders. It's a global problem that requires businesses and governments to work together to find global solutions."
Finding solutions to these problems seems enormous, and many countries (such as the United States) are already struggling to improve their recycling capabilities due to hundreds of different recycling streams, hard-to-recycle plastics, and complex and expensive sorting systems that often inadvertently leak waste plastics into the environment.
For companies
More than 70 financial institutions and major packaging industry players, such as Amcor, Berry, Coca-Cola, Yizi International, Mondial, Nestlé and Procter & Gamble, have signed an agreement calling for the treaty to be "legally binding," citing a WWF report - The Business Case for a UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution - that describes the profitability of the packaging industry's efforts to increase environmentally sustainable production and life-cycle practices.
However, many of these companies have also been accused of being some of the world's worst plastic polluters. In some cases, they have been accused of creating false PR stunts and unsuccessful programs simply to protect their image with consumers.
It remains to be seen which aspects of the treaty will be legally binding, but given the pressure and time it has taken to implement single-use plastic bans in many parts of the world, such as the EU, skepticism among environmentalists is high.
Major FMCG products have also been accused of trying to promote an undue focus on end-of-life disposal to justify the continued mass production of plastic products.
Energy from Waste Debate
The main waste management technology that many activists claim is polluting is the energy-from-waste practice, which is often used by global fast-moving consumer goods to cheaply dispose of plastic waste and provide free fuel for other companies in the cement industry.
However, many experts question the safety of these practices, even in the most advanced facilities, and a battle is currently underway in London, England, to prevent the expansion of incineration.
In the worst case scenario, most of the world's waste incineration practices come from small facilities that lack proper protection of resources, often to the detriment of the local environment and human health. In some countries, Interpol has even found that "recycling" companies use arson as a means of cheaply destroying waste and fraudulently claiming insurance.
The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives calls on leaders to include binding incineration prevention agreements in a global plastic pollution treaty to replace models such as recycling and recovery.
Insufficient voluntary commitment
The legally binding aspects of the treaty, if agreed upon, are the most important goal of the conference. For some time now, activists have been warning that voluntary agreements are not enough and that companies and governments must be forced to comply with the standards or face legal consequences.
Since the United States only recently announced its openness to joining UNEA, reversing the Trump administration's refusal to participate, it is difficult to say what international laws, if any, could be adopted to address the global plastics trade.
The plastic packaging industry is currently so inadequate and difficult to regulate that the European Anti-Fraud Office estimates that illegal waste trafficking by mafia networks globally equals at least $10 billion per year, more than the human trafficking trade.
