Talks on a Deal to End Plastic Pollution Are Progressing

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OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Nations made progress on a deal to end plastic pollution as their fourth round of talks ended early Tuesday in Canada.

For the first time in the process, negotiators discussed the text of a future global treaty. Delegates and observers to the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution called it a welcome sign that talks at this fourth of five planned sessions shifted from ideas to treaty language.

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Most controversial is the idea of ​​limiting the amount of plastic produced. This remains in the text despite the strong objections of plastic producing countries and companies as well as oil and gas exporters. Most plastic is made from fossil fuels and chemicals.

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When the meeting in Ottawa ended, the committee agreed to continue working on the contract before its final meeting later this year in South Korea.

Preparations for this session will focus on funding the implementation of the contract, assessing chemicals of concern in plastic products and considering product design. The representative of Rwanda said they were ignoring the elephant in the room by not addressing plastic production.

Stewart Harris, an industry spokesman for the International Council of Chemical Associations, said members wanted a treaty focused on recycling and reusing plastics, sometimes referred to as “circularity.”

They do not want a cap on plastic production and believe that chemicals should not be regulated by this agreement. Harris said the association was pleased to see governments come together and agree to complete additional work, particularly in the areas of financing and plastic product design.

Dozens of scientists from the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty came to the meeting to present scientific evidence on plastic pollution to negotiators, in part to dispel misinformation, they said.

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“I heard yesterday that there is no data on microplastics, which is demonstrably false: there have been 21,000 publications on micro- and nanoplastics,” said Bethanie Carney Almroth, professor of ecotoxicology at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg and co-leader of the coalition. “It’s like Whac-A-Mole.”

She said scientists were harassed and intimidated by lobbyists, and she told the United Nations that a lobbyist shouted in her face at a meeting.

Despite their differences, the countries represented have a common vision to move forward in the treaty process, said Ecuador’s chief negotiator Walter Schuldt.

“Because at the end of the day it’s about the survival of the future of life, not just human life but all kinds of life on this planet,” he said in an interview.

He said he was proud to take part and contribute his “grain of sand” to global action to address an environmental crisis.

Treaty negotiations began in Uruguay in December 2022, after Rwanda and Peru proposed the resolution initiating the process in March 2022. Progress was slow at talks in Paris in May 2023 and in Nairobi in November, as countries debated rules for the process.

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As thousands of negotiators and observers arrived in Ottawa, committee chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso from Ecuador reminded them of their goal of creating a future free of plastic pollution. He urged them to be ambitious.

Delegates discussed not only the scope of the treaty, but also chemicals of concern, problematic and avoidable plastics, product design, and funding and implementation.

Delegates also streamlined the confusing collection of options that emerged from the last session.

“After two years of discussions, we have taken a big step forward. Now we have to negotiate texts,” said Björn Beeler, international coordinator of the International Pollutants Elimination Network. “Unfortunately, much more political will is needed to address out-of-control plastic production.”

Many traveled to Ottawa from communities affected by plastic manufacturing and pollution. Residents of Louisiana and Texas who live near petrochemical plants and refineries distributed postcards to the U.S. State Department that read, “I wish you were here.”

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They traveled together as a Break Free From Plastic movement group and asked negotiators to visit their states to see air and water pollution firsthand.

“This is still the best option we have to see change in our communities. They are thus captured by corporations. I can’t go to parish government,” said Jo Banner of St. John the Baptist Parish in Louisiana. “I feel like this is the only chance and hope I have to help my community recover and heal from this.”

Members of an Indigenous Peoples caucus held a news conference Saturday in which they said microplastics were contaminating their food supply and the pollution was threatening the communities and ways of life they are guaranteed to survive. They felt that their voices were not being heard.

“We have bigger stakes. “These are our ancestral lands being polluted with plastic,” said Juressa Lee from New Zealand after the event. “We are rights holders, not stakeholders. We should have more space to talk and decide than the people causing the problem.”

In the Bay of Plenty, a seafood source on New Zealand’s north coast, the sediments and shellfish are full of tiny plastic particles. They view nature’s “resources” as treasures, Lee added.

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“Indigenous ways can lead the way,” Lee said. “What we’re doing now obviously isn’t working.”

Vi Waghiyi traveled from Alaska to represent the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. She reminds decision-makers that this treaty must protect people from plastic pollution for generations to come.

She said: “We come here to represent conscience and ensure that they make the right decision for all people.”

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