Global treaty on plastic pollution in the making

This resolution forms, in addition to reducing plastic pollution, a great opportunity to focus more strongly on less resource waste through more prevention, reuse and high-quality recycling. The upcoming treaty could thus enormously accelerate the transition to a more circular economy. "The agreement is fantastic, of course, but the real work has to happen in the negotiations over the coming years to reach a robust treaty," says Rob Buurman, director of Recycling Netwerk Benelux.

“We are making history today and you elements should all be proud,” said Espen Barth Eide, president of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA). Negotiators from 175 countries spent a week in Nairobi (Kenya) talking about a joint resolution to curb globally increasing plastic pollution, from the deepest ocean trenches to the highest mountain peaks. An overwhelming majority of countries ultimately voted in favour of this resolution, meaning it was convincingly adopted.

With the adopted resolution, countries agree to establish a treaty by 2024. The intention is to tackle plastic pollution in all its forms, including microplastics. The details will be determined during subsequent discussions. The adopted resolution calls on countries to draft a final treaty that could ban single-use plastic.

Disposable plastic, especially for packaging, forms the vast majority of all plastic products in the world. Of all plastic, 79% is incinerated, only 9% is recycled and the rest disappears to landfill or ends up as litter in the environment. Recycling Netwerk Benelux works with hundreds of other international environmental organisations within Break Free From Plastic towards a future without plastic pollution. As joint environmental organisations, we have long been pushing for a treaty that tackles the entire life cycle of plastic, from raw material extraction, production and design to transport, use, waste prevention and management. The adopted resolution now provides a concrete prospect of this.

“This landmark decision sets the tone for a comprehensive approach to solving the plastic pollution crisis,” says Von Hernandez, Global Coordinator at Break Free From Plastic. “The recognition that this problem must be addressed across the entire plastic value chain is a victory for organisations and communities that have for years confronted the violations and false narratives of the plastic industry.”

Together with the Break Free From Plastic movement, Recycling Netwerk Benelux stands ready to make a meaningful contribution to the follow-up process and to help ensure that the resulting treaty accelerates the transition to a circular economy.

Buurman: “Prevention is above reuse, and reuse is above recycling on the so-called R-ladder, which is increasingly used to achieve a circular economy. Prevention, or consuming and producing less or more efficiently, is of course the most effective. The production tap must be turned off, especially for plastics from fossil raw materials. Recycling Netwerk Benelux has been advocating this for years. The resolution gives more weight to this message. In addition, reusing products ensures substantially less plastic pollution and resource waste. This is now rising higher on the international agenda and that is a good development.”