UN Global Plastic Treaty: Negotiations to reconvene in summer as environmentalists demand ambition

The negotiations for a UN Global Plastic Treaty will continue this August, the UN Environment Programme has announced. Environmental networks and NGOs expect the second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5.2) to develop an international, legally binding instrument on plastic pollution by rethinking the packaging life cycle and phasing out toxic chemicals.

INC-5.2 is scheduled to take place between August 5–14 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The resumed session will be preceded by regional consultations on August 4. 

Seán Flynn, media outreach officer at environmental network Zero Waste Europe, tells Packaging Insights that it is crucial that the treaty negotiations address the full life cycle of plastic, from production to disposal. 

“Without legally binding limits on the amount of plastic companies produce, we won’t be able to phase out toxic chemicals or ensure a just transition.”

Flynn identifies “low-ambition countries” as the biggest challenge in establishing a meaningful treaty. “Mostly those with vested interests in fossil fuels and plastics. They have used delay tactics and consensus rules to weaken the treaty. Ambitious countries need to hold their line. And that requires bold leadership and collective action.”

“Geneva must deliver ambition, not compromise.”

Clear action plan demanded

At the beginning of the negotiations, the UN declared that three key areas would be considered in the treaty’s establishment — the human health impact, the life cycle of plastic, and the treaty’s legally binding force. 

“The High Ambition member states must not compromise at this final hurdle,” Sian Sutherland, co-founder and chief changemaker at A Plastic Planet, tells us. “So far, the fossil fuel lobbyists and petro-states have failed to derail this treaty,” she says.

She says that the global plastic crisis provides a “rare opportunity” to rethink an individual’s life choices, including how people package, buy, dress, and rethink how to live in general. 

“We need to grab this chance to wake up to the true impact of plastic — not just on our environment but on our lifestyles. We have become addicted to single-use, and we have normalized waste when nature shows us that there should be no such thing as waste.” 

“The plastics treaty must enforce this rethink through the recommendation of clear action plans for all nations to embrace systems such as returnable standardized packaging, new materials that are truly regenerative using agri-waste, marine bi-products, plant proteins, and cellulosic solutions.” 

“All these alternatives are already available. We need to ramp up investment, diverting funding from plastic to materials that work in harmony with nature, protecting all life on earth.”