The UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution has failed to sign a treaty which intended to address the global capping of plastic production, phase out the toxic chemicals used in plastic manufacturing, and eliminate unnecessary plastics in a bid to end environmental pollution.
Over 3,300 delegates from 175 countries and more than 440 observers convened in Busan in South Korea, from 28 November to 1 December for what was expected to be the fifth and final round of talks on this pressing matter. However, opposition from four oil-producing countries triggered the postponement of the final talks to 2025.
INC began its work in the second half of 2022 with the aim of concluding the negotiations by the signing of a treaty by late 2024.
In Busan, over 100 countries plus the UK and the European Union expressed their support for the capping of plastic production, and the phasing out toxic chemicals used in plastic manufacturing together with the elimination of the use of unnecessary plastic products. Opposition to the treaty came from Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, all which are oil-producing countries.
As quoted by the Guardian, Abdulrahman al-Gwaiz, a Saudi Arabian delegate, argued that plastic pollution was a problem that has to be addressed rather than getting rid of plastics. A Kuwait delegate argued that attempts to phase out plastics would undermine global progress and worsen economic inequality.
According to Yuyun Ismawati of the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), oil-producing countries opposed the capping of plastic production because they do not want to see their profits decrease.
“They have been profiting from the production of oil and gas and as resources decline…crude oil to (petro)chemicals is becoming the trend. Most of these oil producing countries are the biggest opponent of this global agreement, they want to limit the scope of this treaty and narrow it down to only single use plastic products,” she explained in a news interview with Germany’s Deutsche Welle.
Plastics are manufactured from petrochemicals which are refined from crude oil and natural gas and 97 to 99% of plastics are made using chemicals from fossil fuels which results in considerable greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) during their lifecycle. By 2019, 353 million tonnes of plastic waste were being generated every year, according to an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report and its researchers estimate plastic waste will reach 1,014 million tonnes by 2060.
Plastics are also exacerbating climate change. In 2019, plastics produced 1.8 billion tonnes of GHGs with 90% coming from their manufacturing and transformation from crude oils. This represented 3.4% of that year’s global GHGs emissions, the OECD report further said. Plastic is also a menace to marine ecosystems with oceans containing an estimated 75 to 199 million tonnes of plastic, according to a UNEP report on plastic pollution and marine litter.
If the current pollution trends continue, by 2050, plastic waste is expected to outweigh fish in the seas, according to a 2015 study by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
While recycling is encouraged, its impact in lessening environmental pollution is minimal. In 2019 only 9% of plastic waste was recycled, while 19% was burned, and nearly 50% ended up in sanitary landfills, according to an OECD report. The remaining 22% was disposed of in unregulated garbage sites, burned in open pits, or dumped into the environment. According to a UNEP report, is not economically feasible to recycle nearly 80% of single-use plastic.
As the delegates failed to sign the treaty in Busan, the UN has reiterated the INC’s commitment to complete the negotiations, noting that these will be resumed in 2025 with the venue yet to be announced.
