Since the commercialization of plastics on a global scale in the aftermath of World War II, their production and consumption have led to very high levels of plastic pollution. These have led to the illicit management of plastic waste and thus to environmental and health injustices, all over the world.
According to an OECD report published in 20221, only 9% of plastics are recycled each year, with the rest being burned, landfilled or mismanaged and not collected. This plastic contamination is proven to negatively affect “at least 267 species globally, 44% of all seabird species and 43% of all marine mammal species”2. Plastic particles can also end up buried deep in the human body, in the placenta3the blood4 and even the brain5.
Alongside the direct impacts of plastic pollution on living organisms, production compounds the climate crisis, as 99% of plastics come from fossil fuels6.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that petrochemicals used to make plastics will account for nearly 50% of rising oil demand by 20507.
The IEA report also finds that this growth is mainly driven by advanced economies, which consume 20 times more plastics per capita than developing economies. The latter are also disproportionately affected by the flow of toxic waste from wealthy parts of the world, including Canada.8.
The importance of international cooperation
The negative life cycle impacts of plastics on climate change, biodiversity and human rights are well documented and have led the international community to initiate a process of negotiations to develop a legally binding instrument to eliminate plastic pollution.
At the end of May, world leaders and civil society actors will gather for the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-2). The negotiation process should be completed by the end of 2024; but the fundamental elements of the future treaty, which will be discussed during the INC-2, have been specified in a text9 distributed by the secretariat of the United Nations Environment Programme.
A global coalition10 of hundreds of civil society actors was also put in place, demanding that the new agreement include measures for all stages of the plastics life cycle. As negotiations continue, it is imperative that discussions build on decades of building multilateral environmental agreements and an inclusive global approach to eliminating plastic pollution.
A treaty moving forward
The treaty must tackle the source of the crisis by introducing a maximum cap on the production of new plastic and accelerating the elimination of public financing of fossil fuels. Therefore, it should include restrictions on the production of plastics through a decreasing cap on the production of virgin polymers, greater transparency on the elimination of toxic chemicals used in plastics, and ambitious control measures for all the other phases of the life cycle of plastics.
Considering the significant consequences of plastic pollution on human rights, including the right to a healthy environment, the new treaty should recognize the full participation of indigenous representatives and other civil society actors as many other institutions do. progressive multilaterals.
It is essential that governments around the world agree to quickly put in place a robust and inclusive monitoring and verification mechanism to ensure the full implementation and enforcement of treaty obligations.
Plastic pollution will continue to get worse until governments around the world take action to stop the proliferation of plastics. This negotiation process represents a golden opportunity that must be seized. It is urgent to take action.