A ‘robust' plastics treaty push by governments, businesses at UN meeting

With the first round of negotiations for a global plastics pollution treaty starting later this year, advocates for a more robust agreement are using the U.N. General Assembly session in New York to try to steer the talks.

A coalition of consumer product makers, financial institutions and a few plastic firms, for example, issued a call Sept. 21 for the treaty to move away from fossil fuel-based plastics, cut back on single-use packaging and restrict materials they consider problematic for recycling or composting.

The group, the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, includes major plastic packaging makers like Amcor Ltd., Alpla Inc., Greiner AG and the Aptar Group Inc., along with resin maker Borealis AG.

"We want to help land an effective treaty, with clear goals and robust policy measures to deliver them," said Henri Bruxelles, chief sustainability officer with coalition member Danone SA. "This is the only way we can build a packaging system that eliminates both leakage into the environment and dependency on fossil fuels."

He called the treaty "a critical opportunity to address systemic barriers to plastics circularity, including those linked to collection systems, reuse infrastructure and availability of recycled material."

Similarly, diplomats from a coalition of countries also seeking a strong treaty told a Sept. 21 online forum on the sidelines of the General Assembly session said they want the pact to set goals to "restrain" plastics use and end plastics pollution in the environment by 2040.

"That's quite an ambitious goal," said Espen Barth Eide, Norway's climate minister. "In principle, I'd like to stop it tomorrow but given the amount of plastics that are used throughout the world, I think this is as ambitious a goal as we can get."

Eide, one of two co-chairs of the 20-nation High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, said he believes businesses are starting to look seriously at changing how they use plastics, after the United Nations Environment Assembly in March voted to move forward on a legally binding plastics treaty. Eide also chaired the UNEA meeting.

He said some businesses see that the treaty talks, which are on a fast timeline to be completed by 2024, will change the regulatory environment around plastics.

"Many of our partners and friends in civil society and in the business sector are telling me that the mandate from UNEA is already understood; people are already working … to change their production cycles to start preparing for a world where this is better regulated than it has been today," he said.

"A number of companies who are either producers or consumers of plastic containers or packaging are starting to deal with this, so there is quite a good momentum," Eide said.

Environmental groups said they supported the coalition. The Center for International Environmental Law said those countries were highlighting the “urgent need to address the problem at the source” and limit plastic production.

The opening round of the treaty talks are set to start Nov. 28 in Uruguay, where diplomats will begin the complicated process of writing a detailed pact based on the UNEA framework adopted in March.

It's not yet clear exactly what specifics will be in the treaty.

The head of the Environment Programme urged countries to move faster than they have on climate treaties, and diplomats at the virtual event said the agreement should balance global targets against flexibility for countries to adopt their own national action plans.

Steven Guilbeault, Canada's minister of environment and climate change, said Canada only recycles 9 percent of its plastics now.

He said the government has moved ahead on bans of single-use plastics, although he noted it was being challenged in court by some companies.

Beyond that, he said Canada is preparing new regulations on minimum recycled content, labeling and stronger producer responsibility systems to help pay for recycling.

"Clearly we need to engage, we need to consult, but it can't be voluntary," he said. "We've spoken about the need for regulations. We've spoken about the need for incentivizing change."

He said Canada is also moving ahead to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies by next year.

"I think we have to look at everything," he said. "We need a healthy balance of carrots and sticks."

Some large economies like Germany, the United Kingdom and South Korea are part of the High Ambition Coalition, but other major plastics manufacturing countries like the United States and China are not.

Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme, told the forum that treaty negotiators need to look at different parts of the plastics production chain.

"Think about the raw polymer producers, invite them inside the tent and ask them to come up with solutions for more circular content — that's step one," she said. "Think about the converters, those who make the plastic pellets that we need for our plastic stuff, challenge them to have more recycled content.

"And of course, be clear about the chemicals that go into that recycled content," Andersen said. "Think about the brands. They decide what specifications they need."

She said the talks also need to consider global trade in plastics, how to educate consumers on recycling and how to finance more waste management, particularly in developing countries.

"Money makes the world go around so we have to think about extended producer responsibility and deposit schemes," Andersen said.

She and other diplomats at the online event said the treaty needs to consider the so-called "waste pickers," people often in developing countries who try to earn a living collecting recyclables.

"Don't forget the poorest of the poor, the waste pickers," Andersen said. "Often they are female. Often they are impoverished, often they are primary earners for their families.

"And the day we go in with a smart, fancy recycling plant, it's the men who will get the job and the women will be left behind," Andersen said.

Several diplomats speaking at the event, including Andersen, said they want the treaty to consider how to build reusable packaging systems and encourage a move away from single-use.

The forum included presentations on economic models to reduce plastics consumption and pollution impacts, delivered by the consultancy Systemiq and the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development.

OECD released a report earlier this year that said stricter government policies could, over several decades, dramatically reduce the growth rate of plastics production and cut both plastics in the environment and its climate impact.

"This is not about incremental improvements, a little bit less, a little bit better bottle," said Eide. "This is really about reimagining the whole relationship to plastics.

"Plastics is actually an extremely useful product, when it's used correctly, and terribly bad if you use it wrong," he said. "It's not about whether you're for or against; it's about using this genius thing, which is everlasting, for sort of long-lasting uses which are meaningful."

Along those lines, the business coalition issued a detailed statement of policies it would like to see the global treaty undertake as negotiators and stakeholders, including business and environmental groups, convene in Uruguay.

The coalition includes major consumer product brands — and plastic buyers — like the Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc., Unilever, Walmart and Nestlé.

Its vision statement said it wanted to reduce plastics production by focusing attention on polymers that have "high leakage rates, or short-lived, and/or are made using fossil-based virgin resources."

It said it wanted the treaty to look at reuse models, instead of single-use, and it urged countries to take a broad view of challenges, including examining how to finance better collection and recycling systems and how to prevent microplastics from getting into the environment.

The business group's statement builds on a similar January announcement from many of the same companies, where they urged UNEA to agree on a "robust" treaty.

The group, which also includes the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the environmental group WWF, said it will begin advocating specific policy positions within the treaty process.

The business group's announcement was met with mixed reactions in some environmental quarters.

Greenpeace said it welcomes the coalition's move toward reusable packaging and its call to stop using some types of plastics, but it called on the companies to "immediately limit and reduce total plastic production and use."

However, coalition members, including resin maker Borealis, said the treaty would bring about much-needed new regulations and laws.

"To address [plastic waste], we need to accelerate the transformation to a circular economy and prevent leakage into the environment," said Markus Horcher, director of sustainability and public affairs at Borealis. "A globally harmonized regulatory framework is key for success — the U.N. plastics treaty is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make this transformation happen."