Global treaty on plastic waste

Negotiators and observers from 175 countries including India are currently meeting in Ottawa to thrash out a planet-saving treaty on plastic waste. Here’s why such a treaty matters, and why it is not going to be easy

PLASTIC WASTE is everywhere, from the peak of Mount Everest to the floor of the Pacific Ocean, in the bodies of animals and birds, and in human blood and breast milk.

Last week, thousands of negotiators and observers from 175 countries arrived in Ottawa, Canada, to begin talks on the first global treaty to curb plastics pollution. India is also a part of the talks, and is represented by a senior official from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change.

Scheduled to run till April 29, this is the fourthroundofnegotiationssince2022,when theunenvironmentalassemblyagreedtodevelop a legally binding treaty on plastics pollution by the end of 2024. The final round of negotiations will take place in in South Korea in November.

The proposed plastics treaty could be the most important environmental accord since the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, inwhichnationsagreedtocutgreenhousegas (GHG) emissions.

Why is a global plastic treaty needed?

Since the 1950s, plastic production across the world has skyrocketed. It increased from just 2 million tonnes in 1950 to more than 450 million tonnes in 2019. If left unchecked, production could double by 2050, and triple by 2060.

Although plastic is a cheap and versatile material, with a wide variety of applications, its widespread use has led to a crisis. As plastic takes anywhere from 20 to 500 years to decompose, and less than 10% has been recycled till now, nearly 6 billion tonnes of the material now pollute the planet, according to a 2023 study published by The Lancet. Around 400 milliontonnesofplasticwasteisgeneratedannually,afigurethatisexpectedtojumpby62% between 2024 and 2050.

Muchofthisplasticwasteleaksintotheenvironment, especially into rivers and oceans, where it breaks down into smaller particles such as microplastics (pieces smaller than 0.5 mm in diameter) and nanoplastic (pieces that are just 100 nanometres or smaller). Plastic containsmorethan16,000chemicalsthatcan harmecosystemsandlivingorganisms,includinghumans—thechemicalsareknowntodisturb the body’s hormone systems, and cause

cancer, diabetes, reproductive disorders, etc.

Plastic production and disposal are also contributing to climate change. According to a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in 2019, plastics generated 1.8 billion tonnes of GHG emissions — which was 3.4% of global emissions. Roughly 90% of these emissions came from the production of plastic, which is made

fromchemicalssourcedfromfossilfuels.ifcurrent trends continue, emissions from plastic production could grow 20% by 2050, a recent report by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States said.

What can the plastics treaty entail?

While none of the treaty’s details are final yet, experts believe that it can go beyond just putting a cap on plastic production in United Nations member states.

It could, for example, lay out guidelines on howrichnationsshouldhelppooreronesmeet their plastic reduction targets.

It could also ban “particular types of plastic, plastic products, and chemical additives used in plastics, and set legally binding targets forrecyclingandrecycledcontentusedinconsumer goods,” said a report by Grist magazine.

Thetreatycouldmandatethetestingofcertain chemicals in plastics.

It could also contain some details on a just transitionforwastepickersandworkersindeveloping countries who depend on the plastic industry for their livelihoods.

What could be the potential roadblocks to such a treaty?

An ambitious agreement is far from guaranteed. Some of the biggest oil and gas-producing countries, as well as fossil fuel and chemicalindustrygroups,havebeenlobbying to narrow the scope of the treaty to focus only on plastic waste and recycling.

As a result, treaty negotiations have been deeply polarising so far. Since the first round oftalksinuruguayinnovember2022,oil-producing nations like Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Iranhaveopposedplasticproductioncaps,and have used a range of delaying tactics such as arguingoverproceduralmatters,toderailconstructive dialogue.

Countries are yet to decide if the plastic treaty would be agreed upon by consensus or through a majority vote, according to a report published in the journal Nature. Consensus would mean that a single country could veto the treaty, and prevent it from getting passed.

On the other end, there is a coalition of around 65 nations — known as the “Highambition Coalition” — which seeks to tackle plastic production. The coalition, which includes African nations and most of the Europeanunion,alsowantstoendplasticpollution by 2040, phase out “problematic” single-use plastics, and ban certain chemical additives that could carry health risks.

Theushasnotjoinedthehac.whileithas said it wants to end plastic pollution by 2040, unlike the HAC, it advocates that countries should take voluntary steps to end plastic pollution. “The underlying reason why the US is not ambitious is we are a fossil gas country,” US Senator Jeff Merkley (Democrat from Oregon) told the Associated Press.

Fossil-fuelandchemicalcorporationshave also been working to water down the treaty, and have sent a record number of lobbyists to the negotiations in Ottawa. According to a recent analysis by the Centre for International Environmentallaw(ciel),196lobbyistsregistered for the talks, a 37% increase from the 143 lobbyists registered in the previous round of the negotiations in Kenya last November.

“99% of plastics are derived from fossil fuels, and the fossil fuel industry continues to clutch at plastics and petrochemicals as a lifeline.thechemicalandfossilfuelindustriesopposecutstoplasticproduction,falselyclaiming that the plastics crisis is not a plastic problem, but a waste problem,” the analysis said.

It is due to such roadblocks that the previous three rounds of negotiations failed to make significant progress towards finalising the treaty.