Ahead of the final scheduled round of negotiations on an international legally binding instrument to end plastics pollution by 2040, the World Plastics Council (WPC) is calling on governments to focus on what unites them if an ambitious and implementable global plastics treaty is to be reached.
Following negotiators’ inability to reach an agreement in Busan in December, the second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5.2) on a treaty to end plastic pollution will resume in Geneva on 4th August.
Benny Mermans, Chair of the WPC said: “At the World Plastics Council we have spent the last two years bringing different stakeholders together to identify common ground and solutions to ending plastics pollution. To agree on an ambitious, implementable and equitable Treaty, I would urge negotiators to focus on what unites us - building waste management capacity and the circular model we all aspire to - and to steer away from contentious issues that threaten the historic opportunity to reach an agreement to end plastic pollution.”
The WPC believes that circularity is the fastest and most affordable lever for accelerating the transition to a more sustainable plastics system and ending plastic pollution, while maintaining the utility that plastics offer society. Building circularity into the entire life cycle of plastics – from design, to recycling, to responsible end-of-life – and developing waste management systems for the approximately 2.7 billion people who lack it, should be the cornerstones of the agreement.
Benny Mermans added: “The most effective way to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable plastics system is for the Treaty to significantly increase the value of plastic waste as a circular feedstock. The greater the economic value of plastic waste, the greater the incentive to not litter, landfill or incinerate, and to reuse and recycle instead. This will create a massive additional incentive to increase investment in waste management infrastructure and innovation, and drive growth and employment.”
There are a number of policy drivers that are key to unlocking the value of plastic waste and accelerating the transition to a circular plastics system, including: mobilising sustainable finance mechanisms, driving demand for plastic waste through mandatory recycled content targets, taking an application-based approach to high-leakage plastics, enabling the international trade of recyclable feedstocks, prioritising product design, and recognising the critical role of the informal plastics sector.
The agreement must also recognize that countries and regions face different challenges and require different solutions. A one-size-fits-all global approach to policy and regulation cannot work, and this is why it must strike the right balance between global obligations and national measures. National action plans, tailored to each country’s unique circumstances and capabilities, should therefore form the foundation of the agreement.
More detail on the WPC’s policy recommendations:
- Waste management: to address the fundamental issue that approximately 2.7 billion people across the globe lack access to adequate waste management systems, we need:
- Global guidelines and best practices to develop plastic waste infrastructure and support the development of national plastic waste management plans and infrastructure (involving citizens, informal sector and consumers);
- To ensure the ability to move plastic waste freely from countries – likely from developing to developed – that don’t have recycling and waste management infrastructure to those that do, so used plastics can become a circular feedstock for new plastics and revenue sources.
- Prioritise product design: if we want plastics that are more easily reused, recycled, repaired and durable, then we need to start by designing them that way. The agreement should, therefore, provide guidance on product design that draws on existing and emerging international design principles and standards. This means setting standards for durability, pushing for national recycling targets, and empowering communities to turn waste into a resource.
- Mandatory recycled content targets: these are key to creating value for plastics waste and demand signals for recycled plastics, and stimulating private sector investment in collection, sorting and recycling. We are calling for clear and timebound, national or regional targets for the inclusion of recycled content in plastic products, per sector, and that step up over time. Recycled content targets must be technology-neutral, i.e., allow all recycling technologies, including mechanical and chemical recycling, to contribute towards the targets.
- The critical role of the informal sector: the agreement must recognize the crucial importance of the informal plastics sector, which is currently responsible for managing 60% of global plastic waste collection. Building partnerships between the informal sector, industry, governments and academia, is vital to developing sustainable, economically viable solutions that uplift all stakeholders and foster mutual respect.
- An application-based approach to high-leakage plastics: we support the global adoption of a decision tree assessment framework that is applied locally to identify and prevent high-leakage plastic products from becoming pollution. Unlike caps and bans, which are blunt and counterproductive measures, such an approach takes into account the societal value a plastic product has in a country and enables tailored solutions to prevent it from becoming pollution.
Sustainable finance mechanisms: we need to mobilise all potential public and private sustainable finance mechanisms, including venture capital, private equity and debt, green transition bonds, concessional and blended finance, and well-designed Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes. These must ensure resources are directed where they are most needed in terms of low-income and vulnerable countries, and the solutions needed such as for innovation, improved collection and sorting, and waste and recycling infrastructure