Washington — The United Nations-led global plastics treaty needs to both create incentives for private investment and be a vehicle to push U.S. state and national laws to improve plastics recycling and reduce pollution.
Those were some of the themes at a June 4 U.S. Chamber of Commerce Sustainability and Circular Economy Summit in Washington, where significant parts of the program delved into the plastics treaty and recycling challenges.
An executive with Coca-Cola Co., for example, said on a panel that he hoped the treaty over time would help push the U.S. to adopt more extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs for packaging and deposit return systems (DRS) for bottles, to raise recycling rates.
"We and a number of other companies are really leaning into this U.N. process for a global plastics treaty … to drive more harmonized standards and regulations around the world," said Ben Jordan, senior director of environmental policy at Coke, noting his company's support for "well designed" EPR and DRS systems.
"I think the treaty could help with that, coming from a top down, international agreement standpoint," Jordan said. "Are there going to be a few states that turn in the next few years toward EPR and DRS? Probably yes. Is there going to be some national solution that may come about because of the treaty, or not? Hopefully yes."
A senior U.S. diplomat said nations in the plastics treaty talks remain deeply split, with one group favoring a more detailed, prescriptive agreement and a competing bloc pushing national flexibility in how the treaty would be implemented.
"It's the challenge of finding a landing zone that's truly meaningful," said John Thompson, deputy assistant secretary for environment in the State Department's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. "I think it's finding that balance that will be a challenge."
He said the splits within the plastics talks are greater than those within another recent international environmental agreement, the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol limiting hydrofluorocarbons. The Senate ratified that amendment in 2022.
"If I think back to Kigali, there were a lot of differences of opinions both domestically and internationally," Thompson said. "But I think the degree of it is much greater on plastics."
Wherever the diplomacy lands — a fifth and final treaty negotiating session is planned for South Korea in late November — Thompson told the audience at the chamber's Washington headquarters that the private sector needs to be involved.
"We're not going to be able to solve this problem if we do not engage the private sector because it's the business community, through investing in R&D, mobilizing investment overseas and driving innovation through sustainable business practices … where the rubber meets the road," he said.
The U.S. as well needs to find a balance within its borders, he said, pointing to poor recycling of plastics domestically and "deep" concerns of frontline communities living alongside petrochemical factories, as well as the benefits of plastics like lightweighting vehicles or making products more energy-efficient.
"We all know we're using plastics for a reason," Thompson said. "At the same time, we're really not using them in a sustainable way. … We don't do a good job of recycling plastic [in the United States]."
An executive with Eastman Chemical Co. pointed to that company's plans to build chemical recycling facilities to process waste plastic, including opening a commercial-scale operation in Kingsport, Tenn., and announcing in March it will build a second facility, in Longview, Texas, with an investment of $1.2 billion.
That Texas plant is slated to receive $375 million in funding from President Joe Biden's climate and infrastructure laws, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill.
Eastman Chief Technology Officer Chris Killian told the event that policymakers should keep an "open door" for new technologies, an apparent reference to policy debates around how to regulate chemical recycling.
"If you think about what you could recycle 20 years ago, and what you can recycle now and ... from my position, what I think we'll be recycling 20 years from now, you need to keep the door wide open for innovation," Killian said.