Update: UN Environment Assembly endorses resolution to address the life cycle of plastics

A resolution to address the full life cycle of plastic, including its production, design and disposal, has been endorsed at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) in Nairobi, Kenya, with the goal of producing an international legally binding agreement by 2024.

UNEA-5 President and Norway’s Minister for Climate and the Environment Espen Barth Eide says, “Plastic pollution has grown into an epidemic. With today’s resolution we are officially on track for a cure.” 

The resolution is based on three initial draft resolutions from various nations and seeks to promote sustainable production and consumption of plastics by addressing product design and environmentally sound waste management, including through resource efficiency and circular economy approaches. It establishes an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC), which will begin its work in 2022, with the goal of completing a draft global legally binding agreement by the end of 2024. It is expected to present a legally binding instrument that reflects diverse alternatives to address the full life cycle of plastics, the design of reusable and recyclable products and materials and the need for enhanced international collaboration to facilitate access to technology, capacity building and scientific and technical cooperation, according to a news release from the UN Environment Programme.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) will convene a forum by the end of 2022 that is open to all stakeholders in conjunction with the first session of the INC to share knowledge and best practices in different parts of the world. It will facilitate open discussions and ensure they are informed by science, reporting on progress throughout the next two years. When the INC’s work is completed, UNEP will convene a diplomatic conference to adopt its outcome and open it for signatures.

“Today marks a triumph by planet earth over single-use plastics,” Inger Andersen, executive director of UNEP, says. “This is the most significant environmental multilateral deal since the Paris accord. It is an insurance policy for this generation and future ones, so they may live with plastic and not be doomed by it.”

She adds, “In parallel to negotiations over an international binding agreement, UNEP will work with any willing government and business across the value chain to shift away from single-use plastics, as well as to mobilize private finance and remove barriers to investments in research and in a new circular economy.”

The UN Environment Program says shift to a circular economy for plastics can reduce the volume of this material entering oceans by more than 80 percent by 2040; reduce virgin plastic production by 55 percent; save governments $70 billion by 2040; reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent; and create 700,000 additional jobs, mainly in the global south.

The full text of the adopted resolution can be read here.

A number of nongovernmental organizations have voiced their support for the resolution.

“It is promising that the mandate will look at plastic across its entire life cycle, shifting us away from problematic end-of-pipe interventions like waste incineration and instead addressing the issue further upstream, in its production phase,” says Niven Reddy, Berkeley, California-based GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives) Africa Coordinator. “This milestone could not have happened without a global movement pushing decision-makers every step of the way.”

The nonprofit says “waste picker” advocates pushed to formally include these informal collectors in the text, marking the first time that their role is acknowledged in an environmental resolution. GAIA says the mandate acknowledges these informal collectors not only as stakeholders but as important sources of knowledge and expertise.

Dianna Cohen, co-founder and CEO of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, Washington, says, “This is a historic achievement. Plastic Pollution Coalition was founded more than a decade ago to dispel myths and euphemisms such as ‘marine debris,’ ‘litter’ and ‘waste,’ with a simple objective to call it what it is: plastic pollution. Now the same critical shift is happening in practice thanks to the power of millions of allies in the global Break Free From Plastic movement, as policymakers have acknowledged the need to broaden the scope of a new Global Plastics Treaty to include not just the marine impacts of plastics but its entire life cycle—from extraction to disposal. We know there will be challenging negotiations ahead, but this is real progress. We will continue advocating for a legally binding treaty that addresses the full life cycle of plastics, covers all impacts in all environments and upholds human rights.”

Members of the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), a virtual organization that represents global chemicals and plastics manufacturers and that the American Chemistry Council part of, joined delegates at UNEA-5. Regarding the resolution, the ICCA voiced its support and released a statement that reads in part:

“ICCA is pleased with the outcome and fully supports a legally binding agreement on plastic pollution. As an observer to the negotiations, we commend the governments that spent long days finding common ground to develop a meaningful resolution to address plastic pollution.

“Specifically, the broad mandate of the resolution provides governments with the flexibility to identify binding and voluntary measures across the full life cycle of plastics while recognizing there is no single approach to solving this global challenge.

“We appreciate governments for highlighting the significant role plastics play in society and for promoting sustainable production and consumption of plastics, from product design to environmentally sound waste management. Many of the tenets of the resolution align with ICCA’s 5 key elements for a global framework.”

Tony Radoszewski, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association, Washington, says, "We welcome the discussion happening at the UN Environmental Assembly that seeks solutions to the issue of plastic pollution. Our members share the goal of keeping any of the products they manufacture from ever getting into the environment, and we look forward to participating in the dialogue set forth by the resolution, the creation of an intergovernmental negotiating committee and the subsequent meetings in the coming years. Plastics improve the quality of life. And, when used and disposed of responsibly, play a major role in ensuring a more sustainable world. We are confident that a process in which science and policy work together will recognize the important role of plastics for society and sustainable development."

*This article was updated March 3 to add the comment from Radoszewski.