Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2023 winners
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Bioplastics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
February 19, 2021 12:55 PM

‘Long, hard engagement' seen on global plastics treaty

Steve Toloken
Assistant Managing Editor
Plastics News Staff
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Tomra
    Supporters of a global plastic treaty would like an upcoming United Nations Environment Assembly to jumpstart talks toward an agreement.

    Advocates for a global plastics environmental treaty similar to the Paris climate accord are looking to an upcoming United Nations assembly to kick-start negotiations to reduce ocean plastics.

    Governments from Europe and Africa, along with a high-level U.N. official, held a Feb. 17 online forum to urge the U.N. Environment Assembly to start drafting a formal treaty committing countries to reduce plastics pollution and give a boost to more sustainable business models.

    The UNEA, which meets formally every two years, is set to hold a virtual meeting of national delegations Feb. 22-23, its first gathering since it last met in-person in 2019.

    Ines dos Santos Costa, Portugal's secretary of state of environment, told the forum a global treaty would help coordinate different national approaches on plastic and should consider things like carbon pricing, leveling the field between recycled and virgin plastics, product design, recycled content and litter control.

    "We need to have a global legal framework that is fit to tackle this problem at an international level," she said. "Of course we need plastics but I think we have relied on it beyond [what is] reasonable to allow low-cost mass production to favor disposability."

    She said plastics production is projected to double by 2040, and the amount of plastic in the ocean will quadruple, indicating that current control efforts are not working. Costa said investments in cleanup and recycling are lagging well behind investments in new plastic production.

    A United Nations report released Feb. 18 for the UNEA meeting said that plastic litter in the oceans has grown tenfold since 1980, and accounts for 60-80 percent of marine debris.

    The idea of a global treaty has previously garnered some support from businesses. Packaging maker Amcor Ltd., polyolefins maker Borealis AG and recycling equipment supplier Tomra issued a joint statement in October, with Coca-Cola Co. and other large companies, supporting a global treaty.

    Borealis said at the time there was an "urgent need" for a more ambitious approach.

    But one U.N. official at the Feb. 17 event, Peter Thomson, the U.N. Secretary General's special envoy for the ocean, predicted difficult discussions with the plastics industry.

    "I foresee a long, hard engagement with the producers of plastic, the petrochemical industry," Thomson said. "I imagine this battle could make our long, drawn out struggle with the tobacco industry look like a bun fight."

    The details of any potential global agreement are yet to be settled. Advocates have said they do not envision it funding waste management around the world, but rather guide countries in setting national plastic plans, developing sustainability standards for the material and providing financial assistance around research.

    The eight member nations of the Nordic Council made a similar call for a plastics treaty in October and said more than 100 other nations supported it.

    U.N. Enviironment Programme
    A beach covered with packaging pollution and other materials in Mumbai.

    A U.S. diplomat told the Feb. 17 event that President Joe Biden's government supports addressing ocean plastic and noted bipartisan support in the Congress in the recent Save Our Seas legislation.

    "The Biden administration is moving forward to reinvigorate, on a very broad basis, international environmental engagement from the U.S. government and that definitively does include addressing marine plastics litter and microplastics," said John Thompson, deputy assistant secretary of state for environment.

    But he also urged UNEA, which is headquartered in Kenya, to take a flexible approach around a plastics treaty "to allow for countries to apply solutions that suit their own needs, capabilities and circumstances."

    Diplomats from other countries made direct statements in favor of a global treaty.

    Josephine Gauld, the United Kingdom's permanent representative to the United Nations Environment Programme, said her government supports a marine pollution agreement and compared it to efforts to tackle climate change, overfishing and loss of biodiversity.

    "The U.K. believes it's time to start negotiating a new global agreement," Gauld said. "This is needed to coordinate international action on marine plastic litter and microplastics and builds upon and goes further than the important work that we're all doing."

    She called for detailed talks before UNEA's next in-person assembly, planned for February 2022 as a replacement for the in-person assembly planned for early 2021, before the pandemic struck.

    Portugal's Costa suggested that various national plastics pacts could be incorporated into a global treaty.

    The pacts are voluntary agreements that have seen signatory companies commit to targets to use more recycled content, boost recycling rates and look at different packaging models.

    The U.S. Pact, which was announced in August, commits its member companies to 30 percent recycled content in plastic packaging by 2025, up from less than 10 percent now, and to ending the use of "problematic" types of plastic packaging.

    Costa suggested governments in favor of the treaty would broadly like to see a rethink of packaging use, toward more reuse and focus on product design to reduce environmental impacts.

    "We come to a point where there is almost no point in making disposable products out of an almost indestructible material," she said.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Treaty talks end with plans for a draft agreement, but hurdles remain
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    PVC compounder Manner launches $54M expansion in Illinois
    2
    Debate exposes divisions in plastics treaty talks
    3
    Treaty talks end with plans for a draft agreement, but hurdles remain
    4
    India's Vasantha invests $7M to open mold making support firm in Ohio
    5
    Graham Packaging wins validation for GHG emissions reduction
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2023 winners
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • Bioplastics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified