Earth Today | Countries set to progress move to end plastic pollution
Published:Thursday | April 18, 2024 | 12:07 AM
COUNTRIES WILL have an opportunity to progress work on a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution at the upcoming Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4), to be held at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, Canada, later this month.
Plastic pollution remains a clear and present danger to human and the environmental health, with some 19 to 23 million tonnes of the plastic waste reportedly leaking into aquatic ecosystems and polluting rivers, seas and lakes each year, according to information from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
INC-4, to develop the international legally binding instrument, including in the marine environment, is set for April 23 to 29, and will be preceded by regional consultations on April 21.
The revised draft text of the instrument currently lists among the objectives ending plastic pollution, “including in the marine environment [and other aquatic as well as terrestrial ecosystems], [based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full life cycle of plastic] [through the prevention, progressive reduction and elimination of [additional]** plastic pollution] [by 2040] [and enhanced efforts thereafter], [in order] to protect human health and the environment [from its adverse effects] [and to achieve sustainable development]”.
Bracketing and asterisks reflect text that was added to reflect the input of members that was previously omitted from the final document issued on November 19 last year.
The current text also lists a number of options for the scope of the instrument and contemplates a range of issues, including the problematic and avoidable plastic products, such as short-lived and single-use plastic products; product design, composition and performance; movement of plastic waste across countries; as well as dedicated programmes of work to support the implementation of the instrument.
Meanwhile, the UNEP 2023 report, Turning off the tap: How the world can end plastic pollution and create a circular economy, has flagged the need to significantly advance work on the legally binding instrument, given what is at stake for people and the planet.
It also champions a particular approach to ending plastic pollution. In particular, it has proposed a so-called “systems change scenario” that accounts for not only the results of plastic pollution, but also the causes.
“Such a systems change will enable countries to turn off the tap and end plastic pollution, while at the same time transitioning towards safer and more stable jobs for those currently working in the informal sector, and create business and job opportunities,” the report noted.
Against this background, it has advanced three shifts in the usual way of operating, namely, to reorient and diversify; reuse; and recycle plastics.
Reorienting and diversifying, the report explained, is about achieving sustainable alternatives, while making provisions for plastics that already exist, but which can neither be reused nor recycled.
Reuse is about accelerating the market for reusable products “to transform the throwaway economy to a reuse society”, while recycling is concerned with accelerating the market for plastics recycling by ensuring recycling becomes a more stable and profitable venture.