More than a hundred countries meet from Monday in Nairobi to pave the way for a “historic” international treaty on plastic, hundreds of millions of tonnes of which end up in waste each year.
From packaging to clothing, building materials to medical, plastic is everywhere and its production reached 460 million tons in 2019. But less than 10% is recycled and waste of all sizes has been found at the bottom of oceans, in pack ice, in the stomachs of birds and even in the ambient air on mountain tops. Not to mention the wild dumps.
The United Nations Environment Assembly, which is being held for three days in the Kenyan capital, should therefore launch formal talks on a treaty aimed at regulating the sector, by creating an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee. The process to come up with a text should take at least two years.
“It’s a moment for the history books,” enthuses Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Program (UNEP). Such a treaty would represent, according to her, “the greatest multilateral progress in terms of the environment since the Paris agreement” on the fight against climate change in 2015.
It remains to define exactly the contours of a future negotiation and the topics to be addressed.
Recycling only, or the entire “life cycle” of plastic? Limitation of certain products, like more and more countries banning single-use plastics? Even production limitations?
Several texts have been submitted, sometimes restricted to marine plastic pollution, which diplomats tried to summarize before the conference. This will be discussed during the assembly, in the hope of arriving at a common roadmap for the negotiations, the launch of which will have to be decided by consensus.
” Unending “
For Ms. Andersen in any case, there is no doubt that we must partly “turn off the tap” on plastic and “we” cannot get out of this situation just by recycling. “If we continue to pollute here and clean up there, it’s endless. »
And very expensive, add many environmental NGOs, which estimate for example that a good twenty tons of plastic end up in the waters of the planet each year, a good part of which then ends up in the oceans.
Many countries have come out in favor of an international framework, including some very large users or producers, such as China or the United States. But often without committing to specific measures. The OECD has called for a “global and coordinated” response to the problem, as plastic production could still double by 2040 according to estimates.
Large multinationals that consume a lot of packaging have also come out in favor of developing an international framework, such as Coca-Cola and Unilever.
Many are already worried about a possibly watered down result, like the NGO WWF, which claims to open the way to a “binding, ambitious text (which) obliges States to respect a standard of common action and imposes production and usage limits.
“I think the world is ready for a change in our relationship to plastic,” said Marco Lambertini, director general of the international NGO, who also published just before the conference the results of a survey carried out in 28 countries. on all continents, showing that almost nine people out of ten consider the conclusion of such a treaty important.
“We don’t just need a treaty that people can sign […]but who has no teeth,” says Erastus Ooko of Greenpeace Africa.
The meeting, canceled last year due to the pandemic, will take place face-to-face and partly in virtual format. Delegates will also focus on “actions for nature” aimed at protecting biodiversity and combating climate change.