This November, our governments face a historic moment to tackle a pressing global challenge. A UN treaty to end plastic pollution will enter its final round of negotiations in Busan, Republic of Korea. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address the root causes of plastic pollution, but despite significant public and business support, there is a real danger of letting this chance slip away. Governments must find a way to overcome their divisions and unite to get the job done.
Plastic pollution is widely recognized as a critical global issue. It continues to overwhelm waste management systems, flooding plastic into our oceans, soil, air, and food chains, and raises increasing concerns around human health. Plastic has a role to play in society. But the way it is made, used, and managed is harming us. And so the system must change.
We have a real chance to transform the system to benefit people and prevent plastic waste from being created in the first place. Eliminating the plastics we don’t need and circulating those we do would create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, improve health and livelihoods, generate billions in government savings, and create economic opportunity worldwide.
Recognizing the scale of both the challenge and economic opportunity, in March 2022 governments adopted a historic resolution to develop an international treaty that addresses the full life cycle of plastic, including its production, design, and disposal.
The latest scientific analysis shows that this approach is by far the most effective way to avoid plastic pollution and offers the best economic, employment, and climate outcomes.
Though the scale of the problem can feel paralyzing, many solutions are known. Our work with the Global Commitment has identified key barriers to scaling those solutions, pointing to where global policy is crucial. Major voluntary efforts convened by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and others have shown what is possible and the effectiveness of collective action. Tens of billions of problematic plastic items have already been eliminated. Billions of pieces of packaging have been redesigned to be recyclable. Committed businesses have more than doubled their use of recycled content. But even the largest voluntary commitments have topped out at around 20% of the market. This is not enough. We need the treaty to bring that up to 100%–and quickly.
Global challenges require global solutions. We need a truly transformative international treaty based on global rules defining how–and how much–we make, use, and reuse plastics. The treaty should focus on preventing plastic from becoming waste in the first place. This means restricting or phasing out problematic and avoidable plastic products, designing products to ensure the remaining plastics are reusable and recyclable, and extending producer responsibility (EPR) to finance the collection and reprocessing of these plastics. To be implemented successfully, the treaty must include sufficient support, including funding, for countries that need it and assistance with the transition of workers, including in the informal sector, throughout the plastics value chain.
If governments can get this right, a robust global regulatory framework will unlock billions of dollars across the private sector. It will make it easier and more efficient for businesses to operate across borders and simplify their supply chains. A globally harmonized, clear direction will stimulate innovation and bring investment into new materials, processes, technologies, and infrastructure. Perhaps it is no wonder that businesses big and small are calling out for harmonized regulations. An ambitious, legally binding treaty is already supported by over 250 businesses and financial institutions, including many of the world’s largest consumer goods companies. There is also broad support from micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises.
Beyond opportunities in the private sector, governments can also expect cost savings from streamlined waste management (which are projected to be $220 billion by 2040) and from not having to develop their own regulatory, technical, and reporting solutions. Countries can also avoid the ballooning costs of plastic pollution’s impact on human health and the environment, conservatively estimated by the United Nations Environment Programme at nearly $450 billion a year.
This moment is bigger than plastic pollution. In a time of great division, this is a chance to show that the world can meet global crises with global solutions and that we can build frameworks for true global collaboration to solve environmental challenges and generate economic opportunity across borders. It’s time to write a new story in which plastic pollution is a crisis we solve together.
Now is the time to do the difficult political work needed to reach an agreement during this final round of negotiations. Governments cannot let this opportunity be lost to history. They must agree to a set of binding legal obligations where there is already the most convergence and further commit to a firm process that covers the remaining areas to strengthen treaty measures over time.
People want this treaty. The environment needs it. Businesses are calling for it. It is now up to governments to make it happen.
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